Wild Card
by TheBigCat
Summary: You know, televisions really are supposed to be harmless. (Persona 4 fusion AU)
1. Prologue: Welcome To The Velvet Room

Hi, welcome to _Wild Card_ , otherwise known as 'Kitty plays god with the Persona and Ruby Redfort universes'.

So, here's basically what's going on here. I took the events/mechanics/lore of Persona 4 (having watched the anime and also gaining information about it from my friend, the wiki, fanfiction, and the internet)…. And then proceeded to utterly disregard all of it, all the while creating a weird sort of… fusion AU thing in which Ruby is the sort of protagonist while the events of the original story take place in Twinford. I have no idea what I'm doing. Let's make that utterly clear. I pretty much rewrote how everything in the shadow world works, as well as making up an entirely new set of Personas for the characters to use, and changing how the murders take place. This is barely even recognizable as a Persona AU anymore, to be honest.

Also, even though I'm rambling on about Persona a lot here, you probably don't need to know anything about it to read this fic (see above: barely recognizable). No characters cross over, except for Igor and Margaret, and the two of them are pretty self-explanatory and only there in the story briefly for exposition's sake.

… I have been talking too much. So basically all I've got to say at this point is- Ace, I'm so sorry, I screwed up your fandom. Also if you aren't Ace, I hope you enjoy this.

\- Kitty

 **Prologue: Welcome to the Velvet Room**

* * *

The man's nose was far too long and his stare was far too intense. These were the first facts that Ruby registered when she opened her eyes, and they would probably be the ones that she remembered the clearest when she actually woke up.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," he said, and grinned- a face-splitting smile that appeared to convey genuine delight, although the sight was still pretty disturbing. "My name is Igor, and I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

Ruby blinked- this was one of the stranger things that had happened to her, and had literally been trapped in a giant hourglass by an evil megalomaniac once. She began to open her mouth, stopped and frowned, then shut it and looked around her.

She was sitting on a couch in what appeared to be a small, fairly cosy library- walls lined with bookcases filled to overflowing with books, and small stacks of them on the ground where they didn't fit into the shelves. There was a fireplace roaring in a grate behind her. Most of the room seemed to be blue- wallpaper, carpet, ceiling, and especially the armchairs and couches that took up every part of the library that didn't contain books.

For some reason, she could hear the strains of piano music coming from somewhere- it was hard to pinpoint _where,_ exactly. It was accompanied by a high, operatic voice, although the song didn't actually seem to have any words.

On a chair a slight bit away from Igor- whose hands were still steepled below his rather extraordinary nose as he continued to regard her with a slightly creepy stare- was a pretty blonde woman in a blue collared dress. She smiled at Ruby, and raised one hand off the book in her lap in a slight wave, but said nothing.

"Okay," said Ruby aloud, eyes travelling around the room again. There weren't any doors or visible exits. "Um, hi. It's nice to meet you too? You've got a really nice library."

Igor inclined his head. "Thank you."

Ruby glanced down at herself, and noted that she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt that simply read **BOZO** \- comfortable and familiar, although she couldn't remember putting them on. "Hey, so, this might seem a bit weird, but- I can't actually remember how I got here. Or where I am. Or… anything about this situation, really. _Where_ am I?"

"You are in the Velvet Room, like I just said," Igor said, unfolding his hands from beneath his nose. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter- it is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter." His smile, impossibly, widened. "It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future, my dear." He leaned forward in his armchair. "Now then- why don't you introduce yourself…?"

"I'm Ruby," she said. "Uh, Ruby Redfort."

"I see," said Igor. "And may I ask, how old are you, Ruby Redfort?"

"Thirteen," Ruby said, deciding to just go along with it for the moment. If this was a dream, it was a very odd one.

"Thirteen, you say? Well, you're certainly the youngest one to enter here in a very long time." Igor raised his hand over the small coffee table in front of him, and Ruby leaned forward to look as a stack of cards appeared out of nowhere. "Tell me, do you believe in fortune-telling?"

"Not especially," said Ruby honestly. "Most fortune-tellers are con-artists or just really good at deductive reasoning. There's no actual magic behind it."

Igor chuckled. "A critical mind- an admirable quality. Nevertheless..." He gestured down towards the card stack in front of him. "I've found that the cards do tend to give somewhat accurate readings."

Ruby reached out curiously, and flipped over the uppermost card. The actual image on it was dark and indistinct, but the number zero was emblazoned at the top, and the words 'THE FOOL' were etched along the bottom. "Are these… tarot cards?"

Igor gave her a single nod of confirmation. Ruby flipped through the rest of the cards, which all were similarly dark. "Aren't they supposed to have pictures on them?"

"They take time to develop," said the woman with the book on her lap, smiling at Ruby again. "Give them time."

"Since you seem to be rather sceptical about the nature of the cards, would you like to shuffle them for your reading?" Igor invited. Ruby was put in mind of a magician, selecting an audience member to help him in his next trick.

"Sure," she said, pulling the rest of the cards towards her, and separating the deck into two halves. The cards were slightly more heavy than she would have predicted them to be. As she rearranged the deck randomly, Igor watched with an unfathomable expression on his face. Finally, she caught the full set of cards in one hand, tapping the bottom edge against the table to even them all out. "Is that okay?"

"Perfect, thank you," said Igor, and took the deck from her, placing it back in front of him. He lifted the top card from the stack, and flipped it over, placing it on the table between them. "The first card refers to your past, or the events that have led you up to this moment. Temperance, in the reversed position."

"What does that mean?" Ruby asked, eyeing the card.

"I thought you didn't believe in fortune telling," he said, with a hint of amusement in his tone. "You've changed your mind?"

"Nah," she dismissed easily. "But that doesn't mean that it's not interesting, right?"

"Very true," Igor agreed. "Best to keep an open mind. Very well."

"Usually, this card would refer to patience and time passing, but when reversed, it indicates that

something is out of balance, or has been in the past."

Ruby was silent for a moment- not wanting to admit that this actually had some relevance to her life at the moment. "Okay. Past, that's cool. What's next?"

"The second card represents the immediate future," he said, and drew a second card from the top of the deck, laying it next to the first. "Hm, the High Priestess, in the upright position. It represents secrets, and hidden influence. It seems that secrets and hidden circumstances stand in the way of your current path and need to be understood."

"Story of my life," muttered Ruby.

"And the final card, indicating the future beyond that is…" Igor pulled the third card from the deck, laying it below the first two. "The Emperor, in the upright position. It seems that the outcome of whatever happens next is out of your hands. You should yield or suffer the consequences, so to speak."

Ruby folded her arms. "Yeah, see- that's why I don't really tend to believe in fortune telling. The idea of a 'fixed destiny', or whatever-?" She shook her head. "No thanks. And that's not even _counting_ the fact that it's all so… _vague,_ y'know? Like, this could literally mean anything. If you can predict the future using cards, why not just give a straight answer? Tell me _exactly_ what's going to happen, so I can be prepared?"

"The answers will come in due time," said Igor serenely. "Do not rush towards the destination, for the journey is something to be enjoyed as well. Such is life."

Ruby narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything.

"And now for the ultimate reason that you have been called here," Igor said, as he returned the cards back to the deck, and somehow made them all disappear without a trace. "Generally, you would be required to create a contract of your own accord, and the inhabitants of the Velvet Room would have no part in the matter. However- there will not be an opportunity for you to do so, if you wish to utilise it when you actually need it . Do you understand?"

Ruby nodded, and then shook her head. "No," she admitted.

"Fair enough," Igor said, with that same creepy smile, and nodded to the woman, who placed the book in her lap on the table, and opened it. Inside were what looked like pockets that should contain cards of some sort. Only one of them was filled, and the card within it was bright blue. It looked like one of the tarot cards that Igor had read from only minutes ago.

"A special request has been made for your… unique case," he said by means of explanation, as the woman slid the card from the pocket, and held it in her hands. "As such, it looks like you'll be forming a contract right now- if you so wish."

"A contract." Ruby stared at him. "A contract for _what,_ exactly."

"Upon agreeing to this, you will gain something referred to as a Persona," said the woman. "It is a side of yourself that shows itself when you face the world around you."

Igor nodded. "Perhaps you can think of it as… well, let's say a façade of determination you wear to face various difficulties in life."

Ruby nodded; this was sounding pretty good so far.

"The Persona ability is the power to control one's own heart, and the heart is strengthened through bonds," Igor continued. "As you form bonds by becoming involved with others, these bonds will determine your Persona's abilities."

Ruby pondered this over for a few seconds. "Are you saying I can gain vast supernatural power by making friends with people."

"Yes, more or less."

" _Sweet,_ I'm in."

"Excellent." He glanced sideways at the woman. "Ah- I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you!" he said, with a tone of dawning realization. "This is Margaret. She, like me, is a resident of this room."

"Hi," said Ruby to her, and then glanced at Igor. "Hey, do I get supernatural powers by making friends with Margaret- or is just people outside of the room?"

"You'll need to make the contract first," Margaret told her with a faint smile, proffering the card. "And then maybe you can find out." Ruby only thought this over for maybe a split second, before thinking _oh, what the hell,_ and taking it.

 _THE FOOL_ was its title- the same card as she had seen before. She only had a split second to look at the black void that made up most of its face before she suddenly gained a splitting headache that caused her vision to momentarily white out. She clapped her hands to her temples. "-ow!"

 **"I am thou,** " hissed a voice that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. **"Thou art I. Thou art the one who opens the door."**

When her vision cleared, Igor and Margaret were still looking at her, and Ruby had braced both of her hands on the table in front of her in a death grip without even realizing it.

"Okay," she said when she stopped seeing spots in front of her eyes. "That was… wow _. Okay._ Does this mean I have a, uh, 'Persona' now?"

"That is correct," said Igor.

"And what does that actually mean _?_ "

"Your Persona ability is that of the wild card," said Igor. "Compared to that of others, it is very special.

It is like the number zero- empty, yet holding infinite potential within itself."

"That makes absolutely no sense at all," said Ruby. "Cool."

"And there you have it," said Igor. His expression had barely changed in the entire time that Ruby had been there. It was beginning to get more than a little unnerving. "You are now, if you so wish it, our guest here in the Velvet Room. Your destiny will require you to hone your power, and for that, you will inevitably require our help. There is but one price for this assistance- you must abide by your contract and assume responsibility for all decisions you may make."

"Isn't that what I do anyway?" Ruby asked with a frown, and then shook her head. "You know what, never mind. Assume responsibility- got it, I can do that."

"Good," he said, "and one last thing."

A blue key, heavily weighted, appeared in Ruby's hands suddenly. She looked down at it in surprise.

"It's mostly symbolic," explained Margaret. "It means that you can return here whenever you wish- you're our guest, after all."

Ruby looked at the blue key in her hands, and folded her fingers around it, grinning. Even if this was a dream, it was definitely one of the better ones she'd had. There was nothing resembling her usual nightmare imagery (although Igor's nose and smile were definitely coming close) and if there was any chance, somehow remote, that she could revisit this place, she was definitely going to take it. "I think I'd like that."

"Until we meet again," said Igor, and Margaret nodded once at Ruby in farewell, and the blue hue and flickering fireplace of the Velvet Room faded away into blackness.


	2. Chapter One: Midnights and Murders

**Chapter One: Midnights and Murders**

* * *

Even before Ruby opened her eyes, she knew she had overslept. She had stayed up far too late the night before, and as a result, the single dream that she could remember had been bizarre and far too vivid. The birds outside were too loud for it to be any later than eight, which meant that she would need to run as fast as she could to make it to school, possibly skipping breakfast in the process.

She sighed, and allowed herself another minute in bed. Before she got too comfortable again, she forced herself to sit up and open her eyes- and upon doing so, cursed loudly. The entire room was filled with fog, making it next to impossible to see anything around her.

She flung her covers off, and tripped across the room to check the window. Sure enough, it was wide open. She must have left it that way last night, no wonder it was so cold in her room.

Ruby slammed the window shut, and opened the door to her room to start trying to get the fog to dissipate. Using one hand to wave it away enough for her to see, she dug through the piles of clothes on the ground to come up with something vaguely clean to wear to school. After a second, she came up with a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that bore the words 'NOT INTERESTED'. She pulled them on without looking, threw her thickest jacket over her shoulders, and slipped her feet into her sneakers, not even bothering to tie up the laces. She grabbed her backpack from the hook on her door, and dashed down the stairs, pulling it over her shoulders as she did so. A few stubborn wisps of fog followed her downwards, evaporating in the warmer air.

"Can you drive me to school?" Ruby asked the kitchen in general, heading directly for the cupboard. A quick search revealed an unopened box of breakfast bars. She ripped it open, and stuffed two of them in her back, sticking a third in her mouth while she searched for a water bottle to take with her.

"Sorry, kid," Hitch replied- he had just been leaving as Ruby entered, but paused briefly to talk to her. "Got some business to attend to. If you wanna make it to school on time, you're going to have to run real fast."

Ruby glanced over at the kitchen clock and swore loudly for the second time that morning. She left the kitchen at a brisk sprint before anybody nearby could reprimand her for her language. Within seconds, she was out the front door and running down the street.

Outside, the fog situation wasn't much better- it was almost thicker than the fog in her room. It was extremely strange weather for Twinford- especially considering that the previous night had been hot and humid, enough that Ruby had to open her window to get to sleep.

Twice, she nearly got hit by a car while crossing the road- and not because their headlights weren't on. They were, but the fog was just too thick to be penetrated by them. Ruby was saved by the fact that they were going too slowly and carefully to ever hit her.

Ruby rocketed into class one minute before the bell, panting and dishevelled. She paused in the doorway to bend down and tie her shoelaces, and was nearly knocked over by Mrs Drisco, who had arrived seconds after her. She muttered an apology, and hopped towards her seat. Clancy was already in the one next to hers.

He made a show of clicking the button on an imaginary stopwatch as she sat down. "And… that's a new record. You actually made it on time today."

"Yeah, yeah, very funny." Ruby glanced out the window as Mrs Drisco began taking attendance. The fog was still there, wrapping itself around the town like a vice, pressing against the windows. "This fog, though- what do you think?"

"Dad thinks it's a weird weather thing- a cold front or something," Clancy said. "He was talking about it last night, at the party. All I know is that it's seriously freaking me out."

"You're scared of a little fog?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I'm scared of what might _be_ in the fog- a mass murderer or something like that." At her unconvinced look, he shrugged a little defensively. "Look, all I'm saying- it's exactly the sort of weather for serial killers."

"Here," Ruby said in response to her name being called out, then returned to her conversation with Clancy. "I mean, I guess it _would_ be easier to kill in the fog, when nobody could see you doing it, you've definitely got a point there"

"Exactly!" exclaimed Clancy with a triumphant stab of his finger to the desk.

"But then again, this _is_ Twinford," Ruby continued with a frown. "We don't exactly have a history of serial killers."

Clancy gave her his best _are you kidding me_ look. " _You're_ saying that? _You?_ After everything you've been through with the C-"

Ruby shushed him frantically, glancing around. "Keep it _zipped,_ Clance, you know we can't talk about that. And okay, yeah, point made. But they're special cases- those people don't count."

"Whatever you say," Clancy said with a slight shudder. "But I'm not going outside until the fog clears up unless I absolutely _have_ to."

Mrs Drisco finished calling attendance, and students began to break up into groups to talk with their friends before the period one class began. Del and Mouse approached Clancy and Ruby, Del leading the way. The expression on her face made it clear that she had something to say, and she was going to say it whether they wanted to hear it or not.

"Okay, so you heard the rumours?" she said without preamble, swinging down into the nearest free seat.

"I just got here," Ruby said, glancing at Clancy, who seemed just as puzzled as she did. "I haven't heard much of anything yet."

"The Midnight Channel thing," Del said, seeming to think that this would clarify everything.

She was met with blank stares from everyone except Mouse, who seemed to be waiting for Del to conclude so she could speak.

Del sighed in a long-suffering manner. "So, there's been a rumour going around that if you turn off your television and watch it at midnight on a rainy night," she wiggled her fingers dramatically, "the image of your soulmate will appear on the screen!"

Ruby instantly snorted. "What? How would that even work?"

"You don't believe in the supernatural, Redfort?" Del asked with a tilted head. "Isn't that a bit closed-minded of you?"

"I believe in a lot of things," Ruby retorted instantly. "But that a turned-off television will show you your _soulmate?_ That's real far-fetched."

"Yeah, that's a bit much, even for me," Clancy added.

"Well, wait until Mouse here tells you what she saw last night," said Del with a shark's grin, gesturing to the girl next to her. Mouse ducked her head, looking a little embarrassed, and Ruby noticed that she looked a bit tired- rings under her eyes, maybe a bit dishevelled too.

"I stayed up last night to finish some homework," she volunteered softly. "It started raining a bit at around midnight, so I went down to the kitchen to close the windows, and the television was on, even though Mom had turned it off."

"Okay, so a case of a television switching on by mistake," said Ruby skeptically. "That proves a grand total of nothing, if you ask me."

"The power switch wasn't on," Mouse countered. "And I tried unplugging it, but it stayed on."

"If you ask me, I think you need more sleep, Mouse my friend," Ruby diagnosed.

But Clancy looked morbidly interested. He leaned towards Mouse. "So who did you see?"

Ruby clapped a hand to her heart, betrayed. "Clancy! Not you too!"

"A woman, kind of indistinct, maybe middle-aged," Mouse recounted. "The picture was _really_ fuzzy- the fog must have done something to the cables."

Clancy sat back, disappointed. "Your soulmate is middle-aged?"

"Maybe she meets her later on in life," Del suggested.

"She was talking, I think," Mouse said, "but I had the sound turned down a lot so my parents couldn't hear."

"Sleep deprivation does weird things to your head," said Ruby. "I stayed up late last night too, and I didn't get any weird television hallucinations." _Well, apart from that dream- but that doesn't exactly count, does it?_

"But were you looking _at_ your television?" Del said accusingly, and Ruby had to admit she had a point.

The bell for first period rang, and Ruby checked her mental schedule. She had maths first, and then Physical Education, which meant that she wouldn't see Clancy for the next few hours. "I'll catch you guys at recess," she said, swinging one strap of her bag over her shoulder.

* * *

As it turned out, Ruby saw Clancy again much sooner than she expected- halfway through volleyball drills in the enclosed gym, she was called away by a teacher she didn't recognize, and was told to report to Reception and wait there until further notice. She changed quickly, and made her way to Reception, curious as to what was going on.

Entering the office, she noted that it was almost completely empty- no staff were manning the front desk, and the only student seated on the row of stiff plastic seats that faced inwards from the windows was Clancy, who was casting nervous glances towards the locked door of the principal's office, only a few metres away.

"Hey!" she greeted him, dumping her backpack on the ground, and flopping into the nearest seat.

"Hey," Clancy replied, sounding a bit confused. "What are you doing here?"

She lifted her legs up so they were tucked under her, and then folded them into a cross-legged position. "I could ask you the same thing, man."

Clancy half-shrugged, lifting one shoulder and then apparently forgetting to lower it afterwards. "I wasn't told. Ms Ellery just said to come here and wait."

"Same here," Ruby said, and looked over at the watercolor print of the bowl of flowers that was hanging over the receptionist's desk. "So, do you think it was something we did?"

"I mean, probably?" Clancy ventured. "But what have we done recently that would mean a trip to Reception?"

Ruby tapped a finger to her lips, thinking. "Hmm, let's see… have I blackmailed you into skipping school?"

"Not recently, no."

"Broken into your school records?"

"Not in the last week or so- and you're usually pretty good about not getting caught."

"Yeah, good point." Ruby frowned. "I guess we can rule out faking tests, stealing from the principal, and faking that fire drill, since I was pretty good about not getting caught in all of those cases as well."

"Can you please stop mentioning every single borderline illegal thing you've dragged me into doing within hearing distance of the principal?" Clancy muttered, shifting a few inches in the direction away from the door to the principal's office as if the act of doing so would actually make any difference to what anybody overheard.

"Could be anything, I guess," Ruby concluded, and that was the moment when the principal's office door cracked open, and the man himself was there, standing in the doorway with a rather stern look on his face. Clancy and Ruby both fell silent, and exchanged identical worried glances.

"Mr Crew, if you would come with me," said the principal, gesturing towards the interior of his office.

"Not Ruby?" he blurted, getting to his feet.

The principal gave him an odd look. "Ms Redfort is here to be picked up for a family function, not for-" and then he stopped, apparently considering something. "Although, I suppose moral support might be wise…" He nodded, having come to a decision. "All right, both of you. Into my office, now."

Ruby got up too, no longer exactly worried about the situation- just curious. They followed the principal into his office, and Ruby shut the door behind them as the principal moved to sit down behind his grand wooden desk.

"Mr Crew, there's no other real way to put this," he began, steepling her fingers together in front of him. "Your father is currently busy with some… personal affairs, so it falls to me to inform you of the current situation."

Clancy was looking more and more nervous by the minute. Ruby reached across and patted his arm, trying to instil some comfort into the gesture.

The principal sighed, looking as if he wanted to be anywhere else but there at that current moment. "There has been a death in your family."

Clancy went pale- Ruby's hand paused on his arm abruptly. Out of all of the possible situations that could have come out of this encounter, neither one of them has expected this.

"Nobody immediate," said the principal hastily, "just an aunt, I believe. Maria Crew?"

Clancy relaxed minutely, and Ruby guessed that he hadn't been all that close with his aunt, whoever she was.

"How…" He swallowed. "How, uh, did she… die? Do you know?"

The principal looked helpless, and also like this definitely wasn't part of his job description. "The, er, police…"

" _Police?_ " Ruby blurted. "It was _murder?_ "

The two other occupants of the room turned to her- Clancy with a surprised expression on his face, the principal with a shocked and vaguely scandalized one.

"The police aren't sure yet," the principal said. "But- it's looking likely."

Clancy swayed a bit, and Ruby tightened her grip around his arm. "Hey, do you mind if Clancy and I go outside for a bit?" she asked the principal lightly.

"That would be fine," he said, looking vaguely relieved. "Mr Crew- your father's chauffeur will be around to pick you up soon. Miss Redfort- the same goes for your family's house manager."

 _Hitch is coming to pick me up._ Ruby filed that little tidbit of information away for later, and simply nodded, before steering Clancy out of the room and pushing him down onto one of the plastic chairs. "You look like you're gonna faint, man."

"I feel like it," Clancy said, glancing out the window and into the still-swirling mist. "You know what I was saying this morning about serial killers- I didn't really mean it, you know."

"Were you two close?" Ruby asked, perching on a nearby chair.

"Not really, I don't even think she really liked me much," Clancy replied. "It's more the shock of it, I think. _Jeez_." He shuddered. "Dad's probably gonna make me talk about it on television, he'll think of it as a public speaking opportunity. It's the sort of thing he'd do- never mind it's his own sister that's been stabbed or strangled or whatever."

Within minutes, his father's car pulled up outside, and Ruby accompanied him to the door of the car- Clancy not wanting to walk alone. (As he put it- "if there really is a mass-murderer out there, and now I _know_ there is, I definitely want you with me so you can kick his butt with your super-spy ninja skills")

Shortly after, another car pulled up. Ruby, now feeling slightly more suspicious than usual, double checked the licence plates to be sure that it really was Hitch's car before even thinking of climbing in the passenger seat.

"Hey, kid," said Hitch, adjusting the windshield wipers, which were barely doing any good at keeping off the moisture from the glass. "Got a new case- I'm supposed to take you down to coding."

"I figured it was something like that," Ruby said, and shut the door. They drove off, taking what Ruby usually considered the long route home from school- going down back alleys and taking side streets. "Just out of interest- would it have anything to do with a really super recent murder that's taken place?"

Hitch glanced over at her with genuine surprise, which was rare coming from him. "Okay, just _how_ the Sam Hill do you know about that?"

"I have my ways," said Ruby mysteriously, propping her chin up on her hand and leaning her elbow on the dashboard. A few seconds later, and they hit a slight bump in the road, causing Ruby to jolt in her seat and snatch her arm away from that position hurriedly. "Ouch!- but seriously, is it to do with that murder?"

"You really weren't supposed to know about that, and yes, it is," Hitch reiterated. "But it's kind of impressive that you did- keep that up and you might have a future career as a psychic."

"I'm gonna stick to coding for now," Ruby said, and they pulled into a deserted parking lot.


	3. Chapter Two: Nine Impossible Things

**Chapter Two: Nine Impossible Things**

* * *

Agent Blacker was already working, when Ruby arrived in the workroom. He grinned when he saw her. "What's your opinion on locked-room mysteries?"

"Love them in books," Ruby replied, finding someplace to sit and look through the photos that he had laid on the table in front of them, "not so much in real life."

"Well, consider your day ruined." Blacker tapped an image of a sour-looking middle-aged woman that could maybe have resembled Clancy Crew if you squinted. "Maria Crew, dead as of three hours ago. Found in a room that was locked from the inside, no windows or exits or anything apart from that one door."

"I heard." At Blacker's confused, slightly quizzical look, she clarified: "she's my friend's aunt. Well, ex-aunt, now. Do you become somebody's ex-aunt when you're dead? I don't know. Either way, he got the news at school while I was there."

Blacker winced sympathetically. "Ouch, poor guy. I'd hate to be him when he finds out how she died."

"What- why?" Ruby was instantly worried. This did _not_ sound good.

Blacker's hand hesitated over a n image, and he slipped it off the table and into his pocket. "She was cut in half," he said. "Cleanly through the middle, like somebody sliced her through with a massive pair of scissors. Really gruesome, let me tell you- I was there at the scene."

Ruby's mind shied away from fully picturing this horrifying image, and she decided not to push the matter. "I guess we can rule out suicide, then."

Blacker laughed, the guilty laugh of somebody with the knowledge that it really wasn't something they should be laughing about. "That's definitely true."

"So why's Spectrum on the case, anyway?" Ruby asked, changing the subject as she began sifting through the files. Despite everything being only hour old, the information seemed pretty comprehensive. There were interviews with the finder of Maria Crew's body, detailed summaries of what was in the room at the time of death- "and for that matter, why are _we_ on the case?"

"I wasn't told why Spectrum got involved," Blacker shrugged, "and as for the second, this particular case is part of my jurisdiction and I figured you might be able to help."

"So all we have to do is figure out how the murder took place?" Ruby asked, already beginning to run through ideas in her head.

"That's about the shape of it," Blacker agreed. He pointed. "There's the room layout over there, witness statements from her neighbours, donuts in that box over there in case we get hungry, and please don't even think about looking at photos of the crime scene if you want to ever sleep peacefully again- or keep those donuts down, for that matter."

"That bad, huh," Ruby said, and snagged the room layout, unfolding the sketch and smoothing it on the table. "Right then- let's get started."

* * *

Over the course of the next hour, Ruby and Blacker worked together to piece together the information as best as they could. Nobody had seen Maria Crew for several hours prior to the discovery of her body, and it was only when a neighbour went around to borrow a cup of sugar for a cake they were baking that she was discovered. The pool of blood leaking out from under the door had been a huge clue.

"So," said Blacker, tapping the chalkboard that they were working on. "Ignoring the circumstances of this case in particular, what are all the ways a locked-room murder might happen"

Ruby grinned. Years of reading crime novels and watching police procedurals on television had prepared her for this moment- she was in her element.

Within minutes, they had assembled a list of seven ways to accomplish any general locked-room crime. That being done, they went down the list from the top.

 _1\. The murder was actually a bizarre accident or series of accidents._

"I mean," said Blacker, " _possible,_ but…"

"Yeah, it'd have to be a really weird string of accidents to manage to cut an entire woman in half using only," Ruby checked the list, "a hair dryer, a mattress without a bed, an empty bookshelf, and a television set."

"Let's put a pin in that," suggested Blacker, and they moved on.

 _2\. The victim was coerced into an accidental death or suicide by means of temporary insanity._

"Same problem," said Blacker, crossing it off the list. "There was no way for her to have killed herself- accidentally or otherwise."

"And while we're talking about that," Ruby added, "let's talk about the fact that there was no murder weapon actually found inside the room. How did that happen?"

"Well, hopefully we can find an explanation for that."

 _3\. The victim was murdered by a hidden mechanical device._

"I actually kind of like this one," said Blacker, tapping his lips. "-well, not _like_ it per se, but it does explain the missing murder weapon."

"You're saying something like-" Ruby made an abstract motion with her hands- "I don't know, a guillotine swung down out of the ceiling, halved her, and then swung back up to hide in a secret compartment?"

"A bit dramatic, maybe, but…" Blacker typed something into his communicator, and waited for a moment, then nodded. "I just requested a team to check over the crime scene again, maybe they can find something the initial police group didn't," he said to Ruby. "They'll get back to us in an hour or so."

"So, we've got a 'possible', then," Ruby said. "All right what's next?"

 _4\. Elaborate suicide._

Blacker and Ruby exchanged glances.

"Nope," said Ruby.

"Yeah, that's… probably not possible," Blacker agreed, and struck it off the list.

 _5\. The victim was already dead when last seen alive, this being accomplished by some illusion so as to falsify a later time of death._

"The last people who saw her alive were basically everybody at the Ambassador's birthday celebration last night," Blacker said, consulting a file. "Unless that was a doppelganger or something, I don't think that could have been faked."

"I mean, let's not forget Lorelei's still out there somewhere," Ruby pointed out. "She could probably have copied her appearance without much trouble."

"Even if that was true, that would leave us with the question of _why,_ " Blacker said. "And also _how,_ because even if she had been replaced by somebody else at the party, her body was fresh when it was found- no more than a couple of hours, at the most."

Ruby nodded, conceding the point, and Blacker wrote _extremely unlikely_ next to that item.

6 _. The victim was murdered by the person who broke into the room and found the body._

Ruby checked the crime scene records. "It was a neighbour, right?"

"Well, sort of. She didn't break into the room- she saw the blood, called the police, and they were the ones who broke in."

"Can we suspect the police?" Ruby asked. "Like, is that a thing that we can do?"

Blacker's eyebrows raised, apparently considering this seriously. "This case is pretty strange, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to get background checks run on them."

 _7\. The murderer committed the murder from outside the room, though it seemed they must have been inside._

"No windows," said Ruby, "no ceiling vents."

"The only way in was via the door," said Blacker. "Which was locked."

A thought occurred to Ruby. "Okay, but- you said that there was blood pooling out from under the door, right?"

"That's… right," said Blacker.

"Which means that there must have been a sizable gap between the door and the ground, right?"

"Yeeesss," Blacker said, stretching the word out dubiously. "But unless our murderer is about two inches tall, and has a deadly weapon of about the same size, I don't really see how it helps us."

"But it means that the room wasn't _completely_ sealed," Ruby said. "That's something, right?"

"I _guess,_ " Blacker said, "okay, what's next?"

Ruby checked the blackboard. "Nothing," she said. "That's it."

And wit h that, they had reached the end of their list, and were basically no closer to solving the mystery than when they had started.

"I vote we break for lunch," said Blacker cheerfully, placing down the stub of chalk he had been using on the table.

Ruby cast another look at the points on the chalkboard, most of which were struck of entirely or labelled 'probably not possible', and she reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

So they headed down to the Spectrum canteen, and grabbed something that they could easily bring back to the workroom- some kind of lasagne for Ruby, the soup of the day for Blacker.

Over lunch and donuts, they were mostly silent, musing over the case and other things. When they were done, they cleared the table and prepared to get back to work.

"So, I had an idea," said Ruby, at the exact same time as Blacker said, "I just thought of something."

They both stopped, exchanging a wry look, and then Ruby said, "you first, then."

Blacker laughed. "I thought of another possibility," he said. "I'm pretty sure there's ways of locking a door from the outside, but making it look like it's been done from the inside."

Ruby nodded. "Can we test that?"

"Well, all we need to do is get a talented locksmith to try their skills on the same type of door as the one in Maria Crew's apartment." Blacker's tongue poked out slightly as he scribbled down that on the slowly lengthening to-do list. "Okay, I'll get somebody onto that. What was your thought?"

"I was thinking about a book I once read, another locked-room mystery," Ruby said. "The butler did it- well, never mind, that's kind of not the point. Is it possible that when the door was opened by the police, the killer never actually left the room?" She paused for a second, waiting for Blacker to respond to this. When he didn't- just sitting there with an interested look on his face, she continued on. "if I was the killer- which I should probably mention I'm not- just, you know, in case- the way I'd go about creating a crime scene like this," she tapped the file, "is pretty simple. The first problem is getting into the victim's room with the weapon, which in this case had to be big enough to cut her in half. I don't know how they managed that, but after they actually _killed_ her, all they had to do is lock the door from the inside, and then find a good enough way to hide both themselves _and_ the weapon."

"Well, leaving aside the fact that the room was pretty small, and there's not many places to hide," Blacker said. "I like that. Let's put it under 'plausible'." He added the two new ideas to the bottom of the chalkboard, then checked his communicator. "Oh! Okay."

"What is it?" Ruby asked, leaning forward.

"Well, the team that went to check over the room again got back to me, and… there's nothing out of the ordinary." He shrugged, puzzlement written all over his face. "It's just a regular, tiny hotel room- no kitchen, no windows, no bathroom, even. According to them, there's no way that there could be any concealed mechanisms or compartments- the ceiling, floor and walls are too thin."

After that, proceedings pretty much came to an end- it was about four in the afternoon, by that point, and hours working with Blacker in an enclosed room had Ruby itching to get outside and do something.

Today's entrance to Spectrum Eight was only a short distance from her house, so she said her goodbyes to Blacker, picked up a condensed copy of the case to work over at home, and headed off. The fog had cleared up slightly, and it was now, if not exactly optimal conditions for walking, slightly better than the morning had been. Upon getting home- which only took a few minutes, she made herself a quick snack in the kitchen, and took Bug for a lengthy walk. By the time she returned, nearly an hour later, she was feeling a lot less claustrophobic, and ready to look over the case again. She reasoned to herself that a re-read of the information after spending time outside might just be the push she needed to solve the mystery.

She settled herself, cross-legged, on the floor of her room with notes spread out around her, and was just about to begin when one of her numerous phones rang. She glared at it- covered in blue sparkles and so ridiculously tacky that she couldn't believe she had ever bothered collecting it- annoyed at having her concentration interrupted. But then it rang again, and she sighed and slid over to pick it up.

"Bill's Roadside Diner- you kill 'em, we grill 'em," she said, slotting the phone between her shoulder and ear, and pulling back to the centre of her circle of notes. "How can I help ya?"

"It's me, Rube," said Clancy, sounding a bit tired but only slightly less cheery than usual.

"Oh! Hey!" Ruby grinned, pleased to hear from him, and pulled out a highlighter from where it was trapped under a pile of books. "What's the news, my friend?"

"Mainly funeral preparations," he said, and Ruby remembered with a start that the murder case that she was working on was for his aunt. During all of the research and theorizing, she had managed to forget that. "And television interviews. Not fun."

"Your dad really did force you to talk on camera, huh," Ruby said, wincing in sympathy as she bent over, highlighting certain passages in the witness reports.

"Yeah, it already aired on TV at about 3pm. I'm not sorry you missed it, it was _awful._ I was stuttering and everything."

"You doing okay?" Ruby asked. "I can come over in a bit if you need some company."

"Please don't," Clancy said wholeheartedly. "I don't want you to get murdered too. Just- stay at home until the fog clears. Please?"

Ruby decided not to mention the fact that she had taken out Bug on a lengthy walk already. "I don't get it- why are you still scared of the fog? Your aunt was killed in a hotel room, shouldn't you be more terrified of _enclosed_ spaces?"

"Yeah, but that still doesn't mean-" and then there was a pause, and a muffled scuffling noise. "Wait, how did you know about _that?_ "

Ruby mentally whacked herself over the head with a heavy object, remembering that Clancy had no idea that she was on the case, so to speak. And it wasn't that she _minded_ telling Clancy about her work in Spectrum- in fact, she actively delighted in doing so, sharing tales of her spy life with her best friend was the best way to round a day off. The problem here lay in the fact that talking about such things Over The Phone had been proven many times to be a terrible idea. "...I recently developed psychic powers, Clance."

"Ruby, I'm serious."

"So am I. These powers allow me to see what's going on with the police investigation at any time I want." Ruby flipped some pages and squinted at the list of police involved in the initial break in. "They're very cool powers, Clance."

"R _iight_ ," said Clancy, the word drawn out and sceptical. "So what are these… 'powers' of yours telling you right now?"

"That we should drop the subject of how I know about your aunt's murder, and _only talk about it when we actually see each other in person._ " There was a brief silence, wherein Ruby wondered if she was maybe being a bit obvious. "Because my psychic powers don't let me talk about them over the phone," she added.

"Oh," said Clancy, getting it. "Oh, _right,_ yeah- that makes sense. Say no more."

"Glad to hear it," said Ruby, and changed the subject. "Are you absolutely sure you don't want me to come over?"

"I _am,_ " he said. "It's getting dark outside, and- look, I just don't wanna be responsible for your grizzly demise."

Ruby crossed her arms, even though she knew he wouldn't be able to see it. "You're saying I can't take care of myself?"

"I'm saying that, as cool and capable as you are, not even _you_ could win a fight against a hardened killer."

From there, they slipped into their usual banter. Ruby abandoned the case file for the moment, and spent a pleasant fifteen minutes just chatting with her friend about nothing in particular- nothing serious or alarming, just inane topics. It was good, it was fun, and it was also probably exactly what she needed.

"Well, I've got homework to get on with," said Ruby eventually- although it wasn't homework that she was planning to get on with, it was something else that couldn't be talked about over the phone. "I should probably go."

"I don't have any homework," said Clancy, sounding fairly smug about it. "I'm excused from school work for the next week, on account of family tragedy and trauma."

"Lucky you," Ruby said. "Hey- you aren't though, are you?"

"What- traumatised?" Clancy was silent for a while. "Nah, not really. Aunt Maria and I- we were never really that close. Like I said, she didn't even like me that much. She was just in town for dad's birthday party, and I think she was planning to leave in a few days or so."

"Ah, I get it. A family obligation sort of thing?"

"Yeah," said Clancy. "I guess I'm just kinda shook up over how close by it was, and- there was no reason for it, you know? Aunt Maria- nobody would have wanted to kill her. She was a bit snooty, yeah, but I don't think anybody around here actually _hated_ her or anything. Or even _knew_ her. She lived in Maine, I think."

"Yeesh," Ruby said with a slight shudder. "Killing without a motive? The guy who did this sounds like a complete psychopath."

"Don't remind me," Clancy sighed. "I can't stop thinking about it- what if whoever did this comes for _me_ next?"

"Just don't think about it too much," Ruby advised.

"It's hard to do that when no-one is shutting _up_ about it." Clancy sighed again. "Okay, I guess I'll see you later then."

"Definitely," Ruby said, smiling, "and, hey- call anytime, if you're still feeling anxious about the whole thing. It's not like I've got anything better to do."

"Thanks, Ruby," said Clancy gratefully, "you're the best." He hung up.

Ruby replaced the phone on its receiver, and swivelled back to the case, intending fully to work through everything as many times as it took until something of importance revealed itself.


	4. Chapter Three: Witching Hour

**Chapter Three: Witching Hour**

* * *

At 11.48pm, Ruby glanced up from what she had been doing, and realized that she had been so focused on her work that she hadn't had anything for dinner. She groaned, and stood up, stretching the cramps out of her legs. She had the tendency to hyperfixate on seemingly unsolvable problems, which was great when she needed to focus, but not so good for maintaining a healthy lifestyle- little things like 'eating' and 'sleeping' tended to go unnoticed until the problem was solved completely.

The worst bit of the situation was- she had made no progress on the case whatsoever. It didn't matter how many times she went over all of the given information- the situation just didn't make sense. There was no motive to the killing, and no rational method which it could have been conducted through.

Ruby wandered downstairs, creeping by the door to her parent's room- there was no light underneath the door, they had probably gone to bed hours ago- and tiptoed down the stairs. Outside, the fog seemed to have intensified, and heavy rain had begun bombarding the windows. It was the very definition of a dark and stormy night.

Ruby entered the kitchen, yawning a bit. She heaped some cold leftovers onto a plate, and quickly heated some milk on the stove. It wasn't exactly the best of dinners, but it would probably be enough to sustain her for the evening. She considered eating it in the kitchen for a moment, but then dismissed this quickly- the dim lighting and the lashing of the rain against the shutters wasn't doing much for her nerves, brave as she usually was. She picked her meal, and started back upstairs again, intending to eat it in her room.

Halfway through the living room, she paused and stared at the television- sitting incongruously on its table, switched off. She remembered what Del had mentioned that morning- the rumour about the mysterious Midnight Channel.

 _'If you turn off your television and watch it at midnight on a rainy night, the image of your soulmate will appear on the screen,'_ Del had said, and Ruby had dismissed it as completely implausible at the time- and she still didn't even halfway believe that it was true. But there was something about the time of night- everything was ever so slightly surreal, ever so slightly off. It made it seem like anything was possible, even the most ridiculous of ghost stories.

Ruby laughed suddenly, and sat down on the couch in front of the television. "Okay, let's see this Midnight Channel thing, then," she said to herself. It would be an interesting point to bring up to Del the next day, if nothing else- it was the perfect chance to disprove another one of her wild stories.

There were still maybe four minutes until midnight, according to the Escape Watch, so Ruby busied herself with eating her impromptu late-night dinner while she waited, keeping half an eye on the blank screen just in case. She figured she'd stick around until about five minutes past midnight, and then go back upstairs. Five minutes was probably long enough to disprove the existence of the Channel.

Two minutes to midnight. Ruby slurped her milk, all of it in one sip, and then placed the empty cup of the floor.

One minute to midnight. She put her place on the floor, next to the cup, and leaned forward, her head resting on one hand while holding her watch out with the other, watching the seconds count down. She mouthed the words, almost without realizing- _five. Four. Three. Two-_

Before she could even begin to form the O-shape of the final number, the screen flickered. Ruby froze, and blinked- her immediate thought was _I must have imagined it._ But then the screen flickered again, going from blank grey-black to white-and-black static, and she made an audible noise of shock. Not only was the television on, even when the switch was clearly, visibly, _off_ , there was an image forming through the static. The image of a person- a boy. Ruby leaned forward, eyes wide, sure she must be imagining it, but no - it was definitely him.

The boy on the Midnight Channel, standing in the middle of a foggy, indistinct screen, was Clancy Crew.

Ruby launched herself forwards, just as her watch ticked over to 12.01, and the screen went black, the image fading away like it was never there. She kneeled down at the base, checking that it was plugged in- it was- and that the television hadn't been messed with in any way- it hadn't. To all intents and purposes, it was a perfectly normal television.

A perfectly normal television that had just impossibly switched on and displayed nothing but an image of her best friend.

She stood up, facing the blank screen- her empty plate and cup lay forgotten behind her, all attention now focused on this impossibility. Her face was reflected in the glass of the screen- pale, eyes wide, looking almost ghostly. She barely even recognized herself.

 _It's a dream,_ she thought, _I'm dreaming,_ but it was far too real for that.

She reached out to touch the glass, wanting to make sure it was real- and yelped as her _hand went right through._

She recoiled, tugging her hand out of the television, and yes that was right, her hand had literally gone _into_ the glass, melting into it like it was water, not solid material that should have been by all rights completely impossible to go through. She stood frozen, staring at the television with one arm cradled protective in the other- trying to process what had just happened.

Slowly, she stretched out her hand again, fingers just _brushing_ the glass, and once again, they went through the surface of the television screen and just _disappeared._ Where her fingers contacted the screen, it lit up bright white. The television had started humming faintly, too. On the tips of her fingers, she could feel cold air.

She pulled back again. The screen stopped glowing, and the room was completely silent.

"Oh wow," she said quietly, under her breath, "oh wow, oh jeez, oh gosh…"

 _What's the most important thing to do when you come across an unknown phenomena, come on Ruby,_ she thought to herself, underneath the layers of her mind that were utterly terrified and wanting to just go back to her room and hide there forever. _You gotta experiment. Prove that it just wasn't a one-time thing._

Ignoring all of the instincts that told her to just _leave it be_ , just _forget about it and concentrate on nicer things, like murder,_ Ruby headed down to the base of the house, where Hitch's room was, and knocked.

He answered within seconds, and despite everything, she grinned slightly- even at midnight, he was wearing a suit.

"What is it, kid- is everything okay?" he said, looking tired. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

Ruby's smile dropped instantly. "Yeah, I know. Uh, I'm fine. Look, this is urgent- have you got a TV in here?"

He gave her a strange look. "-are you _sure_ you're okay?"

"Just answer the question," she said. "This is _really_ urgent."

"Of course I have a television, it's just in the- kid, _where are you going?_ " Ruby hadn't even waited for him to finish the sentence, and just pushed straight past him into the apartment, searching for the TV. She located it almost instantly- it was on the table in the living quarters, and it was switched off. It was about half the size of the TV she had been watching just minutes ago.

Hitch watched as she double-checked to make sure it was off, and then leaned down to unplug it from the wall. He looked confused, and maybe slightly concerned. "Ruby, I'm serious. What's going on?"

"Either I'm going crazy," she said, ripping the cord from the socket, "or there's something _really_ messed up going on here. Time to find out which."

"That's cool and all, kid, but what does it have to do with my-" Ruby reared back, and plunged her hand into Hitch's television, and he cut himself off abruptly as it went in all the way up to her wrist. "Ruby, _what the hell._ "

Ruby stared at her hand- or absence thereof- in faint disbelief. The television screen was glowing the same strange white, and humming just as it had been in the living room. It was somehow even more surreal in Hitch's well-lit apartment- the darkened living room had been almost dream-like, and she could have easily dismissed that as her imagination if she hadn't come here. "Looks like I'm not going crazy," she said.

"What the _hell_ ," Hitch repeated, taking one step towards her, and then stopping in his tracks, apparently completely unsure what to do. "That's- that's actually, physically, not possible- _how are you doing that._ "

Ruby took a deep breath, and pushed her arm in further. It went in easily, and she was quickly submerged in the screen all the way up to her shoulder. Even if the glass had been removed, she shouldn't have been able to fit her entire arm inside the boxed enclosure, and yet this definitely a thing that was happening. "I have absolutely no idea," she said. She wiggled her fingers inside the television, and could feel a cold breeze between them. It was dusty inside, too- she could feel the grit that occasionally blew onto her hand. "It happened in the living room, a few minutes ago- I needed to check, to make sure."

"There's- somewhere _in_ there?" Hitch asked incredulously. " _Inside_ the television?"

"I think so?" Ruby said, rotating her arm in all directions. When she tilted it downwards, her hand touched solid ground- dirty-feeling and rocky, but it was definitely a solid surface. "Ooh, yeah- that is _not_ what the inside of a TV should feel like." She glanced into the screen, trying to see beyond the black glassy surface, but it didn't seem to be acting as a window to whatever place her arm was currently in. "I bet if I stuck my head in, I'd be able to see it."

"Please don't," said Hitch.

"Why not?" she asked. "I mean, I've had my arm in there for a good few minutes now, and it's not like anything's- _whoa._ " As she spoke, she felt a forceful tug on her arm, shifting her a few more inches into the screen. It wasn't as if somebody was pulling on it by gripping it with their own arms- it felt rather like the television _itself_ was doing the job of sucking her in. She tried to pull out of it, but she appeared to be stuck fast. There was another tug, and now she was jammed awkwardly against the frame of the TV, struggling to keep herself from being pulled through the tiny screen. "Oh, _jeez-_ a bit of help here?"

Hitch hurried over, and grabbed her by the shoulders. It took much more strength than it should have to pull Ruby out of the television, and tugging her arm out the last few inches actually resulted in Ruby getting thrown bodily across the room in one direction while the television flew in the other- the glass smashing and frame shattering as it hit the opposite wall.

Ruby said a word that she probably shouldn't have known, panting heavily as she struggled into a seated position. "Something was trying to _pull me in there,_ " she said, shocked into stating the outright obvious.

"What the _hell_ was _that,_ " Hitch repeated for the third time that evening. "Was that even _real?_ "

Ruby looked down at her arm, the one that had been inside the screen, and saw that three long welts were now running along it. She ran a finger along one, and hissed- whatever had done it hadn't broken the skin, exactly, but the area was red and sore. "It definitely _feels_ real." She used the wall to lever herself to her feet, and before Hitch could stop her, staggered across the room to examine the shattered remains of the broken television. She combed her fingers through the glass shards, but whatever strange property that the screen had while whole didn't seem to carry over when broken. A quick check over the actual frame and structure of the television itself didn't reveal any strange components- it was just the normal wiring and electronics that you'd expect from a TV.

"This is messed up," she said quietly, getting to her feet again.

"You're not getting any argument from me," Hitch agreed, looking considerably more shaken than she had ever seen him. "Kid- do you have a television in your room?"

Ruby shook her head, already seeing where this was going. "No, not since a few weeks ago. I'll be fine."

"Good." Hitch looked relieved, and checked the clock. "It's way past midnight- you should go to bed. Just- forget about this for the moment, I know it's crazy and weird and-" He broke off, closed his eyes. "You know what, this isn't working. Just get some sleep. And for god's sake, _stay away from the televisions._ "


	5. Chapter Four: Cost-Benefit Analysis

**Chapter Four: Cost-Benefit Analysis**

* * *

The next morning, Ruby woke up extremely late- so late it could barely be considered morning anymore. She glanced at her alarm clock, which she hadn't remembered to set the alarm on the previous night, and groaned. She, predictably, hadn't been able to get to sleep last night, and had been far too spooked by the incident with the television to even consider looking over the murder case. When she had finally got to sleep, she dreamed of an empty room draped in blue velvet. There was no way around it- she was going to be late to school.

She reluctantly got dressed, and headed down to the kitchen, giving the television a wide berth.

"Hey," said Hitch as she walked in- he looked about just as tired as she felt- "Blacker's not free this morning, but he says he'll be ready to continue working on the case at about one this afternoon. So you can go to school or wait 'till then- up to you."

Ruby seriously considered this for a moment, and then sighed. "School, I guess." Seeing her friends and maybe discussing the events of last night with Clancy sounded like a much better option than staying at home for several hours. The rain from last night was still pouring, so she would be indoors either way.

"Great- I'll drive you," he said, and Ruby quickly ate breakfast before following him outside to the car.

The car pulled out of the driveway, and Ruby said, "so, are we gonna pretend that last night didn't happen, or what?"

Hitch cast her a sideways look. "-do you have a logical explanation for it?"

"No. Do you?"

"No." Silence for a moment. "It's not like I can go tell Spectrum- or anybody, really- that you nearly got pulled into the screen of a television last night."

"That… is absolutely fair," Ruby admitted. Saying something like that was a good way to get a one-way ticket direct to the loony bin.

"Here's what I think," he said. "We keep quiet about it until it actually becomes relevant, simple as that. It might have been a one-time thing, or it might not ever come up again."

"So I should just never touch a TV screen in my life ever again," said Ruby, only partly joking.

"That might actually be for the best, yeah." He pulled up in front of the school, and folded his arms as Ruby opened the car door. "I'm serious, kid. Don't go diving into any screens, no matter how tempting it seems."

"Would I do something like that?" grinned Ruby, looping the strap of her backpack over a shoulder.

"Knowing you, yes," he replied. "See you at one."

Ruby exited the car, closing the door, and headed to what would usually be her second class of the day- chemistry. It was a good class for her- not only was she good at the subject material, most of her friends were in it with her. She entered the class about halfway through, and apologized to the teacher- before he could issue her with a detention, she handed him a Get Out Of Jail Free card that had been liberated from her family's battered game of Monopoly, and slipped into her chair at the back of the class.

"Where were you?" Red hissed, leaning over to her as the teacher examined the card closely, shook his head, and decided not to press the topic- continuing on with the lesson instead.

"I overslept," said Ruby honestly, looking around. "Hey- where's Clancy?"

"Didn't you hear- his aunt's been murdered!" Elliot said, eyes widening for dramatic effect. "I think he's staying home today for trauma or something."

Ruby hit her forehead with the flat of her palm. Bozo. Clancy would probably be taking time off school, which meant that there was pretty much no point in coming in today- why didn't you remember that?

"Oh yeah, I heard about that," she said out loud, glancing towards the chalkboard to confirm that there was no need to actually take any notes- there wasn't, she knew the material already.

"Did you guys see the Midnight Channel last night?" said Del from her seat, just in front of Ruby- she twisted her head around first and then seemed to decide it would be better for communication if she just turned her chair entirely.

Elliot laughed- although thankfully he didn't do it for too long. "The what? Del, there's no way that thing actually exists."

"So I take it you didn't see it," Del said.

"Well, did you?" Ruby asked, suddenly extremely interested. There was no doubt at the moment that the Channel existed- although Ruby was sceptical towards Del's claims as to who exactly the person displayed on it was.

"I did," Del confirmed. "It was raining last night, right? So I stayed up late, like the rumour says to, and I waited until midnight, and you'll never guess who I saw on the Midnight Channel."

Ruby was pretty sure that she could guess, but she didn't say anything. Del didn't continue- she was obviously waiting for some sort of reaction from everybody else.

"Just spill the beans already, Del," Red complained after a moment. "This is real life, not an Agatha Christie novel."

Del rolled her eyes, muttered something indistinct about dramatic tension, and then cleared her throat. "It was Clancy."

Elliot nearly choked. "Clancy Crew? What, are you crazy? No way is he your soulmate."

"Are you sure it was him?" Ruby asked.

"Positive," Del said. "The picture was kinda fuzzy, lots of static, but I'd recognize him anywhere."

"Wait, but wasn't he on TV earlier?" Red said. "You know- that news report about his aunt's murder?"

"I didn't see it," Del said dismissively. "And what does it have to do with anything?"

"Well, you said the screen was sort of fuzzy," Red said. "Maybe some wires got crossed somewhere- nothing really is on at midnight, you know, it could have been a complete coincidence. Just his image being displayed randomly, or something."

Yesterday, Ruby would have thought that this was a perfectly plausible explanation for the situation. Today, she wasn't so sure- although she nodded along with Elliot and murmured agreement.

"I guess," Del said, wrinkling her nose. She looked unconvinced. "I don't know much about TV, but-"

"Crossed wires are a much better option than Clancy Crew being your soulmate," Elliot pointed out. "I mean, he's a great guy and all but- I don't know Del, I just don't see it."

The bell rang, signalling the beginning of recess. Everybody began to pack up.

"Hey, guys," said Ruby suddenly. "I just remembered, there's something I need to do. I might not be in gym third period- cover for me?"

"You're skipping school again, aren't you," said Del disapprovingly. She sounded like a disappointed mother.

"I have an excuse," Ruby said, assuming that she really did have one- there had to be some official reason why she was going to head to Spectrum at one, and she could only really hope that it would extend to earlier than that.

Del sighed and complained, but did eventually agree to not mention that she was skipping.

Ruby headed off, slipping through the front doors of the school without any teachers noticing. The rain had calmed down slightly- it wasn't exactly going to be pleasant walking through it, but she'd probably reach her destination without catching hypothermia.

It took her upwards of ten minutes to jog down Bleaker Street, away from her school, and up Flaubert Street slightly. As she approached Ambassador Row, she slowed to a walk. As she approached the Crew mansion, she frowned- there were police cars gathered outside of the house, lights flashing silently in the fog. It had been a full day since the murder had occurred, and the crime definitely hadn't been committed at Clancy's house- so what was going on?

She decided not to go with her original plan of scaling the side of the house to visit her friend directly in his room, and instead headed straight for the gates. The police officers talking on their radios barely gave her a second glance as she passed by them.

Most of Clancy's family- his dad, and all of his sisters, were clustered underneath the front porch. Ambassador Crew was talking to the most important-looking police officer, an uncharacteristically worried expression on his face.

Ruby hopped up the steps, going straight towards Clancy's sisters- Clancy being nowhere in sight. "Hey- what's going on?"

Minnie jerked at her approach, looking startled and a bit shocked. "Ruby- how did you get here so fast?"

Ruby frowned. "Uh- I just came over to talk to Clancy, make sure he's okay. What's going on?" She glanced upwards, looking into the house. "Where is he?"

All of his sisters stared at her blankly. Ruby began to get an awful sinking feeling in her stomach, that only intensified when Olive- the youngest out of all of them- spoke.

"He's gone," she whispered, sounding terrified.

"He- he disappeared last night," said Lulu. "Went to get the newspaper, and just- didn't come back. Dad thought he might have, I don't know, wandered off or something, but he didn't show up again and he called the police this morning."

Ruby thought of Clancy's anxiety over murderers in the fog, and how afraid he had been of going outside, and how he had declined her offer of coming over to his place, and then, I should have gone anyway. Despite the fact that there was no way it could be her fault, she felt a sudden, overwhelming surge of guilt.

"Hey, you're not looking so good," Minnie said, narrowing her eyes at Ruby. "You need to sit down or something, or-"

"I'm good," Ruby said swiftly, cutting her off. She looked around, looked at all the people who weren't doing anything about her missing friend, just talking about it, and wanted to be out of there as fast as she could manage. "I'm- I'm gonna go. Just go. Uh. Bye-"

It wasn't the most eloquent of departing speeches, but she was gone- down the drive and out the gates- before anybody could comment on it. Ruby practically flew down the street- ignoring the rain, which was steadily getting worse, and turned sharply onto Amster Drive, skidding sharply on the wet pavement. She made it to the large oak tree on Amster Green in record time, and immediately climbed it all the way up to the familiar hollow in the centre. She felt around in it desperately, leaning her entire body into it, but couldn't find anything- not a single scrap of paper, and definitely not a folded origami message.

She pulled her arm out, and just sat there, resting against the solid oak trunk, staring at nothing. That was it, then. No message from Clancy meant that had hadn't disappeared of his own accord, which meant in turn that somebody had taken him. And it could have literally been anybody- not just the people who had a grudge against her and were more than willing to take it out against her best friend, but others, too- people she didn't know about it.

She wasn't processing how long she had been sitting there for, so it could have been minutes or hours before she heard a car pull up below, and Hitch' s voice: "Do I wanna know why you're sitting in a tree instead of in class?"

She sat up properly, wincing a bit, and then looked down to where he was standing, arms folded. "Better than sitting on the ground. How did you find me?"

"Tracker," he said shortly.

"Right, yeah- I keep forgetting." Ruby looped her arms around the branch she was sitting on, and rolled sideways, falling easily to the ground to land in a crouch. She didn't stick the landing as well as she might have liked to- her right foot had fallen asleep after spending so long up the tree, and she ended up stumbling slightly before righting herself. "Uh, what's going on?"

"Blacker's ready to keep going with the murder case, remember?" Hitch said, and eyed her carefully. "Kid, if you don't mind me saying, you look a little out of it. What gives?"

Ruby hesitated for a brief moment, and then sighed, practically deflating. "It's Clancy. He's… missing."

"What." Hitch suddenly looked intensely alarmed, and with the rain drizzling down her neck and soaking her shirt and the fog creeping in around then, Ruby told him everything.

When she had finished, he was silent for a moment. "I'll get somebody onto the search team."

"Okay," said Ruby.

"Multiple someones," he added. "Kid, I know I'm telling you not to do a lot of things today, but I'm completely serious right now- don't try to tackle this one on your own. We don't know who or what's behind his vanishing- things could get nasty, quick."

"I know that." Ruby gave him a strangely intense look, scowling. "Don't you think I worked that out already?"

"You could be next," Hitch told her, crossing his arms, and then sighed. "Look, you don't need to keep working the case if it's too much for you. I can call LB and take you off, she'd understand."

Ruby was personally unconvinced about that- LB was one of the toughest people she'd ever met in her life, ranking above every single teacher she'd ever have. "I can stay on."

"If this is some sort of obligation you feel you have to-"

"It's not, seriously," said Ruby honestly. "I need a distraction- it's fine, it's good."

Hitch gave her a long, hard stare. "Well, as long as you're sure."

* * *

"I heard about your friend," Blacker said as Ruby walked into the room. It looked pretty much the same as they had left it yesterday, except the walls had various profiles pinned all over the walls. It looked like he had been busy.

"I'd rather not talk about it," said Ruby, "if that's okay."

Blacker studied her, and then grinned, passing her a donut. "Of course that's okay. Ready to get started?"

"You know it," Ruby grinned back, and took a seat.

Blacker quickly ran through the information that he had gathered over the course of the morning, which could basically be condensed down to the knowledge that there was functionally no way the murder of Maria Crew could have actually taken place.

"As I see it, this isn't about how the killer did it any more," he said. "Because they clearly managed it somehow, and that doesn't stop being true even if it's supposed to be impossible to have done it."

"So… we're looking for the actual killer?" Ruby ventured.

"Exactly," nodded Blacker. "Find the motive, find the killer- and maybe then we can ask them questions like just how they managed it."

They started by laying out the names and profiles anyone remotely connected to Maria, and connecting people that were related to each other. They checked all of their alibis and motives. They made connections, suggested theories, and followed up on leads, and after almost two hours, got precisely nowhere. Maria Crew had no enemies, and not many friends either. She had no personal or business life to speak of- she worked as a low-lever accountant at a low-budget computing firm- and in general seemed to be a complete nobody. She was the very model of a bland, average US citizen.

"I hate to say it," Blacker said, leaning back in his chair, "but I don't think this is taking us anywhere."

Ruby grimaced. "Agreed."

"Unless you have any bright ideas, I guess we'll call it a day," said Blacker. "I can call you back whenever we get a lead, but there's no point sitting around and wasting our time." He checked his watch. "Can you find your way back home?"

"'Course I can, who do you think you're talking to?" Ruby said. Blacker gave her a double-thumbs up, and left the room, apparently in a hurry.

Before leaving, Ruby surreptitiously looked through the files- the ones that Blacker hadn't wanted her to see. She quickly skimmed past the more gruesome images, instead going straight for the address of the place that Maria had been murdered in. She memorized it quickly- 25 Birch Avenue, Floor Three, Room Sixteen, and then left before anybody could walk in on her doing so.

It was only early afternoon, and the weather outside had cleared up considerably- it was now sunny, and the temperature could be considered pleasant. Birch Avenue was located in NorthTwinford, meaning that it would be a bit out of her way, but Ruby didn't mind. She headed up Bamboo Street, intending to utilize her parkour skills as soon as she got to the more urban area of town, but was headed off by the unlikely arrival of Hitch, who approached from behind her in his car with uncanny timing. He pulled up in front of her, effectively cutting her off, and wound down the driver's window.

"What gives?" she said, crossing her arms as she went up to meet him.

"I said not to tackle anything on your own- remember that?"

"Sure I do," she replied. "I was just heading uptown- got a problem with that?"

He gave her a sort of pitying look which she instantly despised- she hated anybody looking at her that way. "I know Clancy's missing, kid, but you need to stay out of the investigation. For the time being, at least."

He thinks I was going to Clancy's place, Ruby thought, and decided not to correct him.

"Come on," he said, after listening to nothing but her standing there silently for about a minute. "You're going home."

So she went home, and occupied herself for the rest of the day. Hitch refused to let her leave the house, so she did some homework half-heartedly, thought about the investigation, and ignored the frequent ringing of her multiple phones- the calls became less frequent as it grew later, and by eleven all of her friends had stopped trying to call her. The rain started coming down at about half past eleven, and it wasn't as hard as it had been on previous nights.

By eleven fifty, she was fairly sure that Hitch had gone to sleep (although she suspected that he actually slept with his eyes open) or at least had retreated to his rooms for the night, so she opened her door, and crept downstairs once more to sit in front of the television. It was once again switched off, and the screen was blank and silent.

But it wasn't for long, because at the exact moment that Ruby's watched ticked over to midnight, it flickered on.

The boy on-screen was, once again, clearly recognizable as Clancy Crew- although there was definitely something strange, something off about him. He was standing in the middle of a path leading up to a large, grey-stone castle in the near distance, with a brightly-colored cloak draped about his shoulders and a broad, sly grin curving across his face.

As soon as the camera angle focused on him, the grin widened, and he bounded up close to the screen, so most of his face was taking up the shot. "Well- looks like we're going live tonight!"

"Clance- what?" Ruby muttered, stunned.

"That's right, this is an exclusive show, direct from the Midnight Channel- stay tuned, because soon you're going to see the truth- Clancy Crew doesn't need anyone, and I'm gonna prove it." Onscreen, Clancy crossed his arms- it should have made him look petulant, but the gesture seemed almost dangerous- defiant. "This one goes out to every one of you that never believed in me. That's right- Ruby, Dad, everyone at school- I'm gonna show you all- and believe me, it will be spectacular."

Ruby opened her mouth, and then closed it again, just staring. This was completely impossible. It made no sense. And yet…

"I can't wait to see everyone there to witness this!" he said, and made as if to turn towards the castle in the distance. He paused, and flashed a look towards the camera that Ruby had genuinely never seen on her friend's face before. His eyes were bright yellow- a dirty, unnatural color. "Well, I mean- if you aren't too scared, that is!"

He laughed, swivelled around on his heel, and sashayed off towards the castle, cloak swirling behind him.

The screen went black again.


	6. Chapter Five: Toil and Trouble

**Chapter Five: Toil and Trouble**

* * *

Ruby woke up the next morning to a short message that had been slid underneath her door.

 **LB's taken you off the case,** it said. **Feel free to sleep in.**

Ruby did not sleep in. She pulled on a jacket furiously and headed downstairs to confront Hitch.

"What do you _mean_ I'm off the case," she demanded, pulling to a halt in the doorway to the kitchen. "I was getting somewhere yesterday! We're so close to solving it!"

"Sorry, kid- not my decision," he replied. "We think- well, we think that Clancy's disappearance may be connected to it in some way, and LB decided that it would be getting too personal for you to work on it."

Ruby had suspected as much- the two incidents were to closely related to be just coincidence- but she wholeheartedly disagreed on the second point. "If anything, that should motivate me _more!_ "

Hitch looked apologetic. "There's nothing I can do about it at this point."

Ruby glared furiously at the nearest wall, and then huffed. "I'm going to school."

She headed around the side of her house, grabbing her bike, and then rode in a furious haze of righteous determination and fury in the direction of her high school. She made it there a good fifteen minutes before the bell to signal the beginning of the day would ring, but she had no intention of staying there for it to do so. She looked around, searching for a friend, and spotted Red.

"Hey- would you mind doing a thing for me?" she called, approaching her friend and unclipping her fly barrette from her hair.

Red gave her a curious look. "Um, sure. I heard about Clancy, and I-"

"Yeah, I know," said Ruby, cutting her off. She held out the barrette. "Look, I know this probably sounds super weird, but would you mind holding onto this for me? Wear it or put it in your bag, I don't care- you just need to carry it around with you."

Red's curious look had evolved into one that basically said _I think you're crazy but we're friends so I'm gonna do this for you anyway._ "Yeah, I can do that. Ruby, are you-"

"I'm _grand_ , don't worry," said Ruby, swinging her leg over her bike. "Okay, see you later- I need that back!"

She cycled over to the bike racks, and padlocked her bike to the metal bars. After a moment of hesitation, she took off her watch as well and secured it around the central pole of her bike- just beneath the saddle, where it hopefully couldn't be seen. _Darn it- I forgot to give that to Red as well._ She just had to hope nobody would actually see it, and that Hitch wouldn't bother to actually come to school, looking for her. After all, even if he checked the locator on the fly barrette, all he would see was Ruby moving around school as usual- and the same went for her bike and her watch.

That successfully completed, she slipped out of the school gates and headed directly to the apartment block on 25 Birch Avenue. Thankfully nobody was around to see her go, and ask awkward questions about what she was doing out of school.

She made it to Birch Avenue without incident, and stopped right in front of it, surveying her target. It didn't look like the police were still there at the scene- it had been a few days, they probably had no need to stick around. That was good, one less thing to worry about. The main problem that Ruby had was that she already knew there were no windows in the apartment she was aiming for. Usually when breaking into an apartment- and she supposed that somebody, somewhere, should be concerned that this was becoming a regular thing for her- she would enter via the outside, but that simply wasn't an option here, and she didn't much feel like walking through the front doors.

On the west side of the building, there was a fire escape that looked like it hadn't been used for quite some time, and Ruby grinned upon spotting it. _Perfect._

She climbed the nearest tree to the fire escape, vaulting off the high branches to land easily on the metal frame, and just simply scaled the stairs from there to the third floor. The door wasn't locked, just jammed, and after a quick strength contest between the rusted hinges and Ruby's sheer brute force, she was through and into the hallway. She checked the number of the door closest to her- 5, and the one after that, 6. She just needed to keep going until she reached Room Sixteen.

She jogged down the hallway, trying to stay as silent as possible, and reached Maria Crew's former room without incident. She tried the handle- locked, as she had expected, and then dug around in her pockets for the hairpins that she had appropriated from her mother for such an occasion. She pulled out several, stripped off the knobs with her teeth, bent them into the appropriate shapes for the task, and then set to work. It took her a while- she had never put it into practice on a lock that was actually attached to a door before, but she knew the theory, and before long, the door had popped open, and she was inside the apartment, closing it behind her.

The room was dark and silent, so she flicked on the lights, and instantly shuddered. The police, or whoever, had done a pretty good job of clearing up the room and removing the body, but it was an enclosed space and it wasn't hard to miss the coppery tang of dried blood. She pulled a face, and then glanced around the room. Everything was labelled with little cards that had numbers printed on them- the bloodstain on the floor, the items in the room, everything. Her attention was immediately drawn to the large, full-wall television that covered the east wall- labelled with the number seven.

 _Sometimes the best explanation is right in front of your eyes,_ she thought.

If your murderer managed to escape from the room despite there not being any apparent means of escape, it didn't mean that it was impossible- just that you hadn't looked hard enough yet.

Ruby stepped up to face the television, sizing it up. It was definitely large enough to fit a grown woman through, and then some. It definitely was plausible- no, _probable-_ that Maria's murder had happened through use of the television and its frankly _bizarre_ properties.

Hitch's words came floating back to her- _don't try to tackle this one on your own. For god's sake, stay away from the televisions._ Good advice, definitely, but it would have been better used on somebody who would actually _listen._

Ruby double-checked the door was locked, and then without pausing to think, plunged her hand into the television screen. It went straight through, rippling and glowing, but this time there wasn't anything or anyone trying to pull her in- a full minute passed before Ruby decided to make things speed up a little herself. She pulled her arm out, and, using the frame of the TV as support, climbed into it, legs first. Her feet touched the ground on the other side, and she slithered her way inside, trying to ignore how weirdly normal it felt- no tingling, no nausea, just the feeling of stepping through for what all intents and purposes seemed to be a doorway.

Finally, she took a deep breath, and pulled her head through- now completely on the other side of the television screen. She coughed, blinked, and looked around- everything was a blur of brown and grey.

She blinked again, but things weren't focusing. With a sudden flash of annoyance, she realized that going through must have somehow got rid of her contact lenses- she was now effectively completely blind, and wasn't going to be much use to anybody, especially herself.

She sat back, running her hands along the ground, trying to see what she could discern from her other senses. There was a cold breeze that was pushing her hair back and chilling her skin, and the air smelled dead and musty, like an attic that had been sealed for some time.

The ground was, as before, rocky and dirty-feeling- and she was surprised to find her fingers met metal, not any sort of surface, but a wiry object that felt suspiciously like-

"My glasses?" she muttered, confused, and grabbed hold of them to check. They were indeed a pair of glasses, but not her glasses- the ends were too rounded, the lenses too square. Nonetheless, they were there- almost too conveniently so- and even if they were the wrong prescription, she would have to be an idiot not to try them on.

She slipped the frame over her face, and was once again surprised, if pleasantly so, to find that they fit perfectly, and rendered the world around her perfectly clear. She glanced around, taking in the world around her- weirdly, the colors seemed to have changed along with the focus. Things seemed brighter and more vivid than the blur of color that she had previously seen.

It was a wasteland, plain and simple- buildings wrecked, trees burnt to cinders and stumps. The area around her probably once had been a thriving town, but it obviously hadn't been for a very long time. Ruby glanced behind her, and raised a quizzical eyebrow at where she had entered this place from. There was a small pile of televisions of different sizes and makes, all stacked on top of each other like the world's oddest totem pole. She couldn't actually tell which one she had emerged from, which she suspected might be a problem, but probably not right now.

She glanced back at the rest of the world, and noticed one particularly striking feature about it- a castle, not too far away, and very close to where she was. And it looked a _lot_ like the one Clancy had retreated into on the Midnight Channel last night.

It was a no-brainer, really.

She stood up, brushing dirt and dust from her jeans, and began the trek across the wasteland.

She stopped before the large double-doors of the castle and straightened her new set of glasses, which she had quickly become rather attached to. Although their shape was unfamiliar, they actually were clearer than anything she had ever worn, and despite all of the dust and grit, they hadn't become dirty or smudged even once. She wondered briefly if she'd be able to keep them upon leaving the television world, and then decided to keep her focus on the more important things. She experimentally pushed at the doors, which dwarfed her- they were at least three times as big as she was- and was gratified to find that they swung open easily, and without even a squeak. She slipped through the gap, leaving it open behind her, and found herself in a long hallway without any doors along its sides. At the very end of the hall was a grand-looking staircase that spiralled up into the next floor of the castle.

Ruby took the staircase at a light jog, wondering why exactly there was a castle here and who it belonged to. There were a whole lot of questions that could be asked.

The second floor of the castle was similarly empty, with just the one corridor stretching all the way to the other end, where there was another spiral staircase. It seemed almost as if the person who had designed the castle and built it left out all of the interior rooms, like they had been planning to come back and finish it later.

Third floor- a few doors were interspaced along the corridor, but upon looking inside, Ruby found that they were all blank and completely empty, with stone walls, ceilings and floors. The fourth floor was slightly more furnished, although only barely. All of the tables and bookshelves that occupied the rooms were stone-grey, and without any sort of ornamentation or items occupying them.

Ruby judged the height of the floors she had been in with the height of the castle she had seen so far, and estimated that there would be maybe ten floors in total, maybe slightly less if you factored how high-ceilinged the first floor had been. With this in mind, and the fact that the castle corridors were pretty long and her legs were getting tired, she decided to take a brief rest. She pushed open the nearest door, grabbed a chair from inside, and slid it out into the hallway to sit on.

She rested for a few minutes, feeling the anxious buzz of being in an unfamiliar place gradually fade away, and then sighed and got up, intending to continue on.

And she almost jumped a mile into the air when she realized that there was somebody standing opposite her, leaning against the wall. She hadn't even heard him approach, and yet he was there- arms crossed, posture completely casual, eyes closed, smile curving across his face. And not just _anybody-_ it was Clancy Crew.

Ruby was out of the chair before she even processed who it was. " _Clance-_ oh man, I was so worried, what _happened-_ "

He didn't say anything. His eyes were still closed and he was smiling. It was a smug, completely self-assured expression that she had never seen on his face. Ruby stopped, seconds away from sweeping him into a relieved, borderline violent hug. "Clancy?"

"Close- but not quite." His smile widened; he opened his eyes. Ruby took a shocked step back- his irises were practically glowing yellow. "Hiya, Ruby- we were wondering when you'd get here!" He sounded completely normal- thrilled to see her there, but Ruby could tell that there was something wrong.

"Clancy?" she repeated, confused.

He waved slightly. "That's me- although not the me you probably were expecting!" He laughed suddenly. "I'm the better version, though- trust me!"

"What _happened,_ " she asked, wanting to move forwards but hanging back, wary. "You disappeared two nights ago- the police are looking for you, they think it's connected to the murder-"

" _DIDN'T YOU HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID,_ " he snapped suddenly, and Ruby flinched back, shocked- Clancy almost _never_ raised his voice, and there had been a flash of complete anger in his yellow eyes that was totally unlike him. "I'm the _better version-_ you don't get to rescue me this time, _pal._ " He practically spat the final word.

"I- I never said anything about rescuing," Ruby said, scrambling backwards a few steps. "Probably doesn't matter, anyway, 'cause- I don't think you are Clancy."

He laughed, throwing back his head. " _WRONG AGAIN-_ " he barked, and then back to a more normal tone. "I am Clancy, Rube! Don't'cha recognize me?"

"Sure I do, but-" Ruby realized that there was a trickle of sweat running down her back, and tried to ignore it. "Maybe, um, tone it down? I'll be honest here, you're kinda scaring me a bit."

"Scaring you? _Sweet,_ " he grinned, sounding like she had just suggested they get breakfast at the Double Donut Diner. "You don't scare easily, Rube- that's a real compliment coming from you."

"Glad you think so," Ruby said, blinking hard. "So, uh…"

Clancy- or not-Clancy, as Ruby was beginning to refer to him in her mind- snapped his fingers, realizing something. " _Oh._ Hey, you probably want to know what's going on! This entire place is super confusing, right?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, a few pointers would actually be really nice."

"I bet they would," he said, still grinning. "You'd love that, wouldn't you? Everything all nicely laid out for you." The grin dropped off his face abruptly. " _No._ "

"Whoa, that's harsh," Ruby said, trying not to show how terrified she was. "Not even a pointer for your best pal?"

He snorted. "You're so smart, huh? Work it out for yourself." He jerked his head upwards- to the top of the castle. "Here's a _hint,_ Rube. Go up. It's not like you've got anywhere else left to go."

She blinked, and he was gone- no showy special effects, no noise indicating that he had disappeared, he had just vanished like he was never there to begin with.

 _Go up,_ he had said. Ruby looked across at the staircase leading to the next floor with newfound determination.


	7. Chapter Six: Face Yourself

**Chapter Six: Face Yourself**

* * *

Her estimation had been right. Upon reaching the top of the staircase leading up to the tenth floor, Ruby found that it didn't open up onto another empty hallway- rather, the way was blocked by a large wooden set of double doors, similar to the entrance to the entire castle. She braced her hands on both of them, and pushed inwards, and they opened easily, swinging away from her to hit the walls at the end of their arcs with a deafening smash.

The tenth and final floor of the castle was one vast room, with its ceiling open. The rafters criss-crossed across the space above her head, forming a chaotic sort of cats-cradle. Ruby's gaze travelled down to the rest of the room, which was richly decked out in tapestries and expensive-looking carpeting. From the doorway, a long red carpet travelled the length of the room, leading up to a set of steps, and at the conclusion of that, a throne- upon which a very familiar figure sat, a crown lying crooked on his head and a red cape around his shoulders.

As she approached, Clancy opened his eyes- yellow, Ruby noted, so this was probably the one she had met earlier on the fourth floor- and smiled. "Heya. Took you long enough to get here."

"Got held up by some shadows," she said, and frowned. "What did you do to Clancy?"

His expression went from amiable to flat in a split second. "I'd rethink that question if I were you, Rube."

"Right, because you are Clancy- you said so before." Ruby stepped back and tried to think. The person who claimed to be Clancy but really clearly wasn't leaned forward in his throne, steepling his fingers together. It was sort of distracting. "You look exactly like the version of Clance- uh, sorry, you- that I saw on the Midnight Channel. Yellow eyes and everything. But what does that-?" She stopped, and went oh. "You aren't him, but you are him, you're some sort of, I don't know, facet of his personality?"

"Astute," said Not-Clancy, and crossed his arms, "and yeah, that's about the amount of it, but you're not the main character here- not right now. I think it's time we welcomed in our very special guest, don't you?"

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking abou-?"

He snapped his fingers, and a door from nowhere slammed open, sending Clancy Crew- the real Clancy Crew tumbling across the room and slamming into the far wall, where he crumpled into a heap. Ruby yelped aloud in almost unconscious sympathy, and scrambled towards him. "Clance!"

She grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him up and checking he was okay, and he opened his eyes and blinked at her, before breaking out into a genuine, relieved smile. "Ruby!"

"Touching," commented Not-Clancy, surveying the events from his throne. At some point, he had gained a sceptre- golden and with a large, shiny knob at one end. He was twirling it absently from hand to hand. "Also completely insincere, and you both know it. We're not happy or excited to see you at all, are we, Clancy?"

Clancy struggled to his feet with Ruby's help, and stared at his doppelganger in open puzzlement. "What? Who-?"

"You, idiot," Not-Clancy deadpanned, catching the sceptre in a neat two-handed grip, and holding it horizontally out in front of him. "Any moron can see that- Ruby figured it out easy enough, but you- put it together, me- who looks like you, talks like you and thinks like you?" He tossed the sceptre again, brought it down onto the ground with a sharp crack. "I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count."

"Wh- you're me?" Clancy took a step forward, taking the scene in- the room, the carpet, the throne, the perfect clone of him lounging on it.

Ruby tugged on his sleeve. "Come on, let's go- don't waste your time on this bozo. He doesn't know what he's talking about, trust me."

Clancy glanced back at her, and was on the verge of saying something, but then- "Oh sure, listen to Ruby," his copy jeered loudly, flipping the sceptre through the air and catching it. "It's what you always do, isn't it? Ruby knows best, Ruby can save me, Ruby's the smart one here, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. Is anything in your life not about her?"

Clancy stiffened, and took several steps away from Ruby before she could say anything. "Shut up," he snapped. He looked pale.

"Never the smart one, never the brave one- why would anybody ever put up with you?" Flip, twirl, catch. "It's not as if anybody actually likes you, anyway. You've never actually done anything worth liking, have you?"

Clancy took a step towards his double, shaking off Ruby, who was trying to pull him towards the double doors. "What are you talking about- none of that's true! People like me!"

"Oh, stop whining," said Not-Clancy, rolling his eyes. "I'm just pointing out what we already know, what you already think. You're just some lame kid, some loser who isn't good at anything except screwing up and-"

"Stop it!" Clancy yelled, hands balling up into fists by his side. "You're wrong, that's not-"

"Oh, it's not?" His double caught the sceptre one last time, and then spun off the chair, planting his feet on the ground. "Then why doesn't your dad love you?"

Clancy's mouth dropped open, and his hands flapped weakly at his sides.

"Okay, that's it," Ruby snarled, and dashed forward, intent on single-handedly fighting the boy with the crown, but he snapped his fingers and she went flying into the furthest corner of the room, just as Clancy had earlier, colliding painfully with the wall and sliding down to the ground.

"This is between us- stay out of it," the Not-Clancy directed at her, and then turned his attention back to himself. "And speaking of that- you never fight your own battles! Honestly, it's pathetic. You want to save yourself, but you're so weak- you think to yourself, oh, Ruby would do a better job of it than I would- and then you have the nerve to be jealous of her!"

"I'm- I'm not jealous of Ruby!" Clancy stuttered, and Ruby tried to pull herself up from the ground, mainly failing. "She's my friend, and she's-"

"She's so much better than you," his opponent taunted. "So clever, so brave, helps you without complaint, why can't you be more like her, your father says, and oh, you resent her for it, don't you?"

"I- I-"

"You want to be the hero for once," Non-Clancy snarled, yellow eyes flashing as he stalked down the red carpet and over to Clancy, somehow managing to tower over him despite them being the same size. "You want to save her, be the one that gets the good end of the stick for once- you want her to fail and you to succeed, and worst of all, you want to gloat about it! Take her down a peg! Prove to everybody that worthless Clancy Crew isn't so worthless anymore!" They were now nose-to-nose, eyes locked together- one's gaze terrified, the other firey and resentful. "And you know what the worst bit is?" he breathed, nearly a whisper. "You'll never have the courage to do it." He shoved Clancy away, sending him sprawling on the carpet. "Coward."

Clancy choked and sobbed, tears running down his face. "You- you! No!"

"So tell me," the other Clancy said, crossing his arms, and raising his crown-adorned head- staring down at himself, sobbing on the floor. "Who am I?"

"You- you're not me," Clancy said through his tears fervently, trying to slide away, but failing. "You're not me- and you'll never be!"

"Wrong answer," said the other Clancy, and shifted. The golden crown on his head morphed into a jagged, writhing mess of living thorns, spilling down to envelop the rest of his body, which grew quickly- he doubled in size, and then tripled, and it was barely even recognizable as humanoid any more. Its arms extended, becoming two long beams with clawed ends. Oddly, it now resembled an old-fashioned set of weighing scales, but only in a very abstract sense. The creature still retained the sceptre, which seemed to have become part of the middle part of the scales, and the red cape, which hung, tattered, from the back of its neck- far too small, and yet caught in the rest of its form, unable to escape.

From where the head appeared to be, two vast green pools opened, glowing malevolently, and stared down at Clancy, who was still on the ground below the creature, frozen in fear.

"I am a shadow- the true self," it boomed, still in Clancy's voice. "And it's about time you get what you deserve."

Clancy didn't make a move to resist, even as the creature swept a vast limb-claw out and plucked him from the ground like a rag doll. "You're afraid of everything- let me give you something to be properly afraid of."

In the corner, Ruby had finally managed to shake off the daze that had come from being thrown into a wall, and climbed doggedly to her feet, staring at what was going on in horror. It dawned on her, quite suddenly, that if she didn't do something, Clancy was going to die, and not pleasantly either. Barely thinking about it, she ran towards the throne, and jumped, aiming for it at an angle. It shouldn't have worked, but it did- she hit it, used her momentum, and pushed off into the air, soaring towards the Shadow that currently had Clancy in its grip. "Get away from him!"

It batted her aside, even as she tried to grasp onto the thorns, to get a grip- she went flying again, but this time managed to roll with the impact- it barely even hurt, and she was able to get to her feet again. But it was obvious that simply jumping it wouldn't accomplish anything.

Something flashed into her mind.

"Upon agreeing to this, you will gain something referred to as a Persona," said the woman. "It is a side of yourself that shows itself when you face the world around you."

Igor nodded. "Perhaps you can think of it as… well, let's say a façade of determination you wear to face various difficulties in life."

Ruby blinked, momentarily startled at this sudden flashback from what she had previously assumed to be just a really weird dream- and then she heard Clancy scream- a wordless sound of pain, and she reacted purely on instinct.

She sprinted towards the thorn monster, sliding between its legs, and came to face it on the other side. Her face was tight with determination, and her heart was pounding in her chest.

"PERSONA!" she screamed, not really understanding why or how, and a warm glow filled her chest, quickly increasing to something so hot she could barely stand it- and something erupted out of her, flashing bright white. It unfolded- vaguely humanoid in shape, covered in glittering silver armour, bright wings glittering, huge and wonderful and impossible, and hovered above her. It didn't have a face, just black carapace and white, blank eyes.

Ruby looked up at it, and a word came to her mind in a voice that wasn't her own- Musca.

She grinned, despite the situation. "Cool," she whispered.

Then the thorn-grown Shadow growled again, jagged fingers digging into Clancy, and he cried out again, and Ruby remembered where she was and what was happening. She swept her hands up into the air, moving on instinct alone, and gasped aloud as the being above her, Musca, wrapped its long spindly fingers around her wrists. Its wings buzzed sharply, and she was lifted into the air with seemingly no effort at all- coming to hover directly in front of what seemed to be the Shadow's face.

"Ruby, how," yelled Clancy, momentarily distracted from his dire situation by this apparently impossible scene.

If Ruby could have shrugged in confusion from where she was, she would have. As it was, she glanced up at her unlikely insectoid ally, and nodded towards the Shadow, trying to convey 'let's go get him'.

Musca seemed to understand, and its wings beat faster, blurring into near-invisibility. They zoomed forwards, going directly towards the Shadow's face and those glowing green eyes. Ruby's hair was being whipped in all directions, flying into her eyes and making hard to see.

As they neared the Shadow, only inches away now, Ruby disentangled herself from Musca's legs, and dropped down seconds before impact, falling down towards the Shadow's thorny chest at an angle. She landed on a relatively clear section, and immediately began climbing down, trying to reach the area where Clancy was being held. This time- unlike the last time she had tried to climb the Shadow- it didn't try to bat her aside. It was more preoccupied by Musca, who was maybe a third its size and currently attacking the Shadow's head for all it was worth. Its wings had become shining, razor-sharp blades that cut back the thorns that made up the Shadow's physical form. Ruby would have taken the opportunity to admire the scene if she hadn't been busy trying to navigate the prickly maze of what served for the Shadow's arms.

She swung herself over the final couple of thorn loops, and ended up right next to Clancy, who- for his part- was doing his best to wriggle out of the tight, painful grip. She dug around in her pockets, and came up with her pocket knife. She flicked it open, and started sawing at his constraints.

Clancy managed to free an arm. "Rube, what was that? You just started glowing, and-"

"You're going to fixate on the fact that I was glowing and summoned a giant fly?" Ruby whisper-yelled back, brushing hair back with one hand and furiously cutting away. "Over everything else that's going on today?"

"That was gonna be my next question- Ruby, what's going on?"

She yanked at one particularly thick vine, pulling it away from the rest and letting it tumble to the ground. "I actually have next to no clues, believe it or not- how 'bout we just focus on getting out of here before your evil twin here realizes you're escaping?"

Clancy freed another arm, and then with Ruby's help, a leg, but his other leg was still caught fast. Ruby scrambled over, holding on tight with one hand and still sawing away with the other. "What are you talking about, you know everything!"

"I don't- ugh, these stupid vines- know everything, that'd be ridiculous." Ruby gritted her teeth and tugged. "Were you actually listening to this guy?" She poked a finger at the thorny body of the Shadow, casting an incredulous look at Clancy. "You do know that you're worth ten of me, right? He's full of-"

"I never said that it was the truth," snarled the Shadow, flicking its wrist and finally succeeding in swatting Musca away, just as Ruby snapped the final vine holding Clancy in place, and pulled him to his feet, so they were both standing on the uneven platform made up of the Shadow's arm. "Just that it's what we believe."

"Oh darn," Ruby said, which was an understatement, and glanced downwards. "Clance, do you trust me?"

"What sorta question is that?"

"The sort that could save or end your life- come on, do you trust me?"

"I- of course I trust you, why-?"

"Great," said Ruby, grabbing his arm. "Jump."


	8. Chapter Seven: Damage Control

**Chapter Seven: Damage Control**

* * *

Clancy glanced down towards the floor, which was easily fifteen feet away. He didn't even have time to object, because Ruby tugged him forward and within a split second, they were tumbling through the air- and then they were landing on the back of the creature that Ruby had somehow summoned with twin noises of _oomph._ Ruby sat up instantly, tucking her legs on either side of the impossible fly-like creature, grinning as they flew a quick loop around the rafters, higher than the Shadow could reach. "Hey, _nice._ "

"Did you know that would happen?" Clancy asked, slightly breathless as he assumed a better position for riding a possibly magical giant fly.

"Kinda," admitted Ruby. "It was either jump and hope, or probably die horribly, and- hey, it worked!"

"Nice one," said Clancy, taking the opportunity to rub the last remnants of tears off his face. "Okay, so- we getting out of here, or what?"

"Thought you'd never ask," Ruby said, and leaned forwards to Musca. "Come on, let's-"

But she was cut off abruptly, as the Shadow lunged forwards- not towards them, but to the double doors that led out to the rest of the castle. It threw its entire weight into the cobblestones around it- cracking it, bringing a slew of rocks down in front of it, and making it impossible to leave.

" _ **Coward!**_ " it yelled. " _ **Always getting Ruby to take care of your problems, huh? She's not gonna be around forever!**_ "

"Change of plans," said Ruby, and nudged Musca sideways. "Hold on tight."

Musca dived down at breakneck speeds, wings blurring and sharpening. Clancy screamed. Ruby laughed. The Shadow did too, and even as Musca's wings expanded and sliced it through shoulder to waist, it kept on laughing- it fell to the floor.

" _ **You're not even grateful, are you? That she beat me. Just annoyed that you couldn't do it yourself.**_ "

"Shut- shut up, no," Clancy said, as Ruby steered them down in a graceful swoop to the ground, and they both got off Musca to stand several feet away from the now completely halved Shadow. "Stop- don't."

The Shadow fizzled and dissolved- collapsing down to its original form, the copy of Clancy, now that it was defeated. It was still laughing- great, borderline-hysterical heaves, but the effect was somewhat diminished by the fact that it was now human-sized. "You're- you're not…"

Ruby nudged her friend, bumping his shoulder with his. "Clance."

" _What._ " He swivelled around to face her, looking stressed.

"I'm just sayin'- last time you denied it, it went all crazy thorn god on us."

"So I should- just- accept it?"

"I know you hate it- but that thing?" she gestured to the Shadow, still in human form. "It's you. It's not the best side of you, by _any_ means- but it's still you." Ruby didn't quite know how she knew it, but she somehow knew that it had to be true.

There was a very long moment of silence, and then:

"Fine," said Clancy, and took a deep, shuddering breath, before exhaling and meeting his own gaze. "You're… you're me. And I'm you. You're a part of me, and…" It seemed to take considerably more effort to get this next bit out, but he managed it. "...and that's- that's okay."

The Shadow stared at him for a moment, and then smiled- this time, there was no malice behind it, just a kind of careful hope. " **It's nice to be accepted for once,** " it said, and faded away into blue light, reforming into a card that hovered in mid-air just in front of Clancy. He eyed it suspiciously and then turned to Ruby, flapping his hands vaguely in confusion. "What am I meant to do with _that,_ just leave it there or-"

"No, no, you just kinda-" Ruby mimed taking the card and shoving it into her chest. "You know?"

Clancy's confused hand flaps increased in intensity. "No, I don't?"

"Look, just," Ruby rolled her eyes, "take the card." She hesitated, remembering the events in the Velvet Room that she had dismissed previously as a result of her subconscious. "If it helps- I think it'll give you powers of some sort?"

"Powers, like how you summoned that fly thing?" Clancy asked.

"Kinda, yeah." Ruby gave up on explaining, and just shrugged. "Look, either you do it or you don't. Either way, I wanna get out of here as quick as possible, so…"

Clancy gave her another dubious look, but took the card in one hand, pressing it to the front of his t-shirt. It glowed brighter for a second, and he almost seemed to absorb it- his entire body kind of shimmering for a moment.

"Libra," he said as the light faded.

"What?" Ruby frowned.

"It's- I don't know, I just kind of heard it- y'know, in my head." He tapped the side of his skull, then shook it. "Libra. What's that mean?"

"Wild guess, Clance, but I think it might be your Persona."

"My- Persona-?" Before he could say anything else, he just kind of- drooped, knees buckling as he let out a sort of gasp.

"Whoa there!" Ruby darted forwards, propping him up before he could topple over. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just- tired."

Ruby cast a worried glance around the now-empty castle room. "We should probably get out of here. Hitch'll probably have figured out that I gave him the slip. Here-"

She looped an arm around his waist, helped him to his feet, and the two of them stumbled down the steps of the castle, which were no longer intersected by long corridors. They had somehow become one long staircase that led directly to the front door of the castle. It more than halved the distance that they needed to cross, but it still was a lengthy descent, and both of them were panting hard by the time that they got to the bottom. Ruby nudged the door open with a foot- it swung back easily- and they limped outside into the ruined wasteland.

Ruby heard Clancy make a wordless noise of surprise under his breath, and then, "Rube, where _are_ we?"

"Inside a television- long story," said Ruby. "I know it's a bit of a wreck, but there's nobody around as far as I can tell, and if we can just get to the-"

"Why is there so much _fog_?" Clancy wondered, cutting across her.

Ruby stopped talking, and gave him a strange look. "-fog? What fog?"

"It's _everywhere,_ " he said, waving his free hand in the air as if trying to waft it all away. "You're saying you don't see it?"

Ruby started walking towards where she had last seen the stack of televisions, half-carrying Clancy at this point. "Y _eah…_ no, there's no fog here. Are you _sure_ you're all right? That thing didn't hit you too hard?"

"I'm _fine,_ " he said, slightly irritable.

They moved along together in silence. All the while Ruby considered some variables, and by the time they had reached the spot where Ruby had entered, she thought she had figured it out.

"Here," she said, stopping so she could remove the glasses she had found when she arrived. She offered them to Clancy, feeling slightly exposed now that the world had dissolved into a dull, colorful blur. "Do me a favour and try these on."

"I don't need glasses," he protested, but Ruby just waved them in his general direction until he stopped talking and just put them on. There was a brief pause while Ruby just stared at nothing in particular, practically blind, and then: "hey, I can actually see now!"

"Glad to hear it," Ruby said, holding out a hand- nudging at her friend's arm. "Can I have them back now?"

"But there's _fog,_ " Clancy said, "and I can't see properly when I'm not wearing them."

"I can't see at _all_ without them," said Ruby, exasperated, "and may I remind you that _I'm_ the one who knows how to get out of here."

"Ah," said Clancy, and appeared to fumble with the glasses for a second before handing them back to Ruby. "Right, sorry."

"S'okay." Ruby slipped them back on, enjoyed the sudden return of her vision, and then offered her arm to Clancy again. "That's a theory confirmed, then."

He took it. "Theory?"

"That the glasses help you see in this world or something," she said vaguely, leading him over to the stack of televisions. "I don't know- the rules in this place are really weird. It'll take me a while to figure them out. Here we are," she added, pointing at the TVs. "We need to go through them to get out."

He squinted at where she was pointing, apparently able to sort of see them. "We need to go… _through_ the televisions?"

"Through the screens," she clarified, although not much, and then frowned. "Hey- about what your Shadow said back there…"

Clancy grimaced. "Uh, yeah. Sorry about that."

"No, don't apologize- it's what you feel, you can't help it, and besides," she grimaced, "you're right. I'm- I can be a bit. Well. You know."

"Yeah," Clancy agreed. "And I get that that's part of your personality, and everything, but-" He shrugged helplessly. "Sometimes, you drag me all over the place, and walk all over me, and it's- it's a bit too much? Sorry," he quickly added, looking horrified at what he was saying. "Sorry, I shouldn't-"

"Uh-uh, _stop_ ," Ruby said, "and also listen. I'm being serious here, by the way." She paused for a second, collecting her thoughts. "The next time you think I'm- the next time _I do_ something like that, and it's too much for you- tell me. I promise I'll stop, listen to you- whatever."

"I- thanks," said Clancy. "That would be. Good."

"And _talk_ to me," Ruby added, sort of exasperated. "I'm here to help, you know. Don't bottle everything up."

"Friends?" Clancy said with a hesitant smile, holding out a hand.

Ruby laughed; pressed her hand on top of his. " _Always,_ bozo."

They grinned at each other, and-

" **I am thou. Thou art I,"** echoed a voice in Ruby's head. " **The bonds that you forge will become your strength. You shall receive a blessing when creating Personas of the Justice Arcana."**

Ruby's free hand shot up to her head, although the sound of the voice was already fading. "Hey, you didn't happen to hear that, did you?"

"Hear what?"

"Thought not," said Ruby. _Justice. Okay. Whatever that means._ "C'mon- let's get out of here."

She pushed an arm, then her whole body, into the bottommost television screen, the one she had emerged from, and pulled Clancy through after her.

The television spat them out in Maria Crew's former apartment, and then both lay on the floor together, groaning.

"Is this-" Clancy asked, pulling himself into a seated position.

"Your aunt's place, yeah." Ruby sat up too. "Sorry about that."

"So-" Clancy seemed to put some pieces together in his head. "Her death. That was something to do with the TV thing. And the shadows."

"I didn't have much time to think about that," Ruby admitted. "But it looks really likely." She paused. "Speaking of that- what happened, how did you get in there in the first place?"

Clancy's entire face folded up in puzzlement. "I- I was just going outside to pick up the newspaper, and then- I think somebody might've grabbed me? I don't know." He shook his head. "It's all kinda blurry, Rube. I woke up in that castle place, that's the next thing I remember."

Ruby stood up, and offered a hand to Clancy, helping him to his feet. "You've been missing for, like, two days, you know."

"Oh no," Clancy moaned. "My dad's gonna kill me."

"He's actually been _worried_ about you, if you can believe that," Ruby said offhandedly, and then smiled. "See, he _does_ love you, he's just kinda, unconventional about showing it."

"I-" Clancy hesitated. "If I'm honest, I still don't believe that."

Ruby's smile widened. "Hey, we can work on that. There's still time, right?"

"Right," said Clancy, and let Ruby pull him outside into the hallway of the apartment complex.

"We need an excuse," Ruby said in a hushed tone, as they moved past all of the closed doors and towards the fire escape. "Something more plausible than, _hey, my friend got kidnapped, sucked into a television and I decided to follow so I could save him._ "

"I could claim amnesia," Clancy suggested.

Ruby kicked the door open, and motioned for the two of them to go out onto the fire escape. She considered this. "Yeah, that could work- you're a good enough actor, and as long as nobody connects me with it-"

"If I just wander into a store somewhere-" Clancy was now in full plan-making mode. "-and I pretend I don't know where I am, or what happened…"

"Do you have your watch?" Ruby asked. Clancy held up his right arm, which indeed did have a watch on it. "Great- do me a favor and sync with mine, it's- oh wow, it's one thirty-five, that took longer than I thought it would…"

They held their wrists together, and matched up the times.

Ruby nodded. "Great. Give me, say, ten or fifteen minutes to get to school and into class, so I have an alibi, then head over to- I don't know. Somewhere."

"Chatterbird Square," Clancy suggested quickly, muffling a yawn but looking determined. "It's far enough away that nobody will suspect, and if I get over there quickly enough-"

"Do you think you can, you look pretty tired," Ruby said.

Clancy nodded firmly. "I might fall asleep on a bench when I actually _get_ there, but- yeah. I can make it."

"Might add to the credibility," Ruby mused, and gave him a quick, fond pat on the back. "All right. See you later, hopefully."

Clancy raised a hand in farewell, and Ruby hurried off in the direction of the school, already trying to remember what classroom she would be in.

* * *

"Good news, kid," said Hitch as she walked into the house from school that afternoon. He looked genuinely pleased.

Ruby had a feeling she knew what it would be, but tilted her head in interest anyway. "Oh?"

"They found Clancy," he said. "In Chatterbird Square, if you'll believe it- a bit tired, but otherwise completely fine."

Ruby allowed a wide, genuine smile to split her face- Clancy had managed it. " _Really?_ That's _great?_ \- what happened?"

Hitch frowned. "See, that's the thing- we don't really know."

"You _don't_?" Ruby wasn't sure if she was overdoing it, but figured she could probably chalk it up to shock and/or relief if later interrogated about her actions. "But I thought you said you found him- didn't he say anything?"

"He seemed pretty confused, kid," said Hitch, and Ruby grinned internally- _good old Clancy-_ "wouldn't give a straight answer about anything, claimed he didn't remember a thing after stepping outside of the house." He gave her a brief, suspicious look. "...I hate to ask, but- you wouldn't happen to have anything to do with this, would you?"

"What- _me?_ " Ruby threw her hands up defensively. "I'm only just hearing this for the first time. Give a kid a break, will ya- I'm not plotting behind your back _every_ day of the year." She turned for the stairs. "Now, if you'll excuse me- I need to call a friend. I haven't heard from him in two days, you know."


	9. Epilogue: Aria

**Epilogue: Aria**

* * *

Several weeks later, and the fog had cleared up noticeably. The Midnight Channel hadn't appeared once since Ruby and Clancy emerged from the television, and the rumours about it had died down to almost nothing. Ruby wasn't _quite_ curious enough yet to climb back through a screen in search of the truth, but she suspected it was only a matter of time before she got to that point.

On a Sunday morning, just after Clancy's parents had stopped being so overprotective to the point of not letting him leave the house at all, Ruby, Clancy, and a group of their friends met up at Amster Green with the intention of walking to the Cherry Cup for a milkshake and some lighthearted gossip.

They were just crossing Larch Street when Ruby felt something vibrate intensely against her thigh, causing her to stop, startled, in the middle of the street. She would have probably been hit by a passing car if Del hadn't grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the way.

"Geez, Redfort, what gives?" Del asked, brushing non-existent dust off Ruby's shoulder.

"I- huh," said Ruby, patting her pocket. There was definitely something there, and whatever it was, it was still vibrating. "Sorry about that. Um-" Her eyes suddenly caught on a doorway set into the brick wall that they were standing next to - large, blue, and she was hit by a sudden wave of deja-vu.

"Ruby?" Clancy asked.

"Go on without me, I'll catch up at the Cup," she said to her friends, stopping where she stood.

Mouse tilted her head at Ruby- her silent equivalent of asking _what's the deal?_

"I think I saw somebody I recognize," she said, and made shooing motions with her hands. "Seriously- go on without me. I've just gotta talk to them for a minute or two."

She waited until they were all out of sight, and then dug around in her pockets to find what was heating up and vibrating. It took her a few seconds to locate it- a blue key that seemed strangely familiar, although she couldn't ever remember putting it into her pocket. She held it up in front of her, comparing it to the door that she was standing next to- they were the same color, and same general design- and the door seemed to be pulsing in sync with the key, too.

Ruby stepped over, and slotted the key into the lock, deciding she had nothing to lose by doing so. It fit easily, and when she turned it, the lock clicked open.

She stepped through the door, and found herself in a blue-furnished library with a lively fire roaring at the far end. She could hear piano music and a voice singing wordlessly, and seated around the table occupying the middle part of the room were two people- an old man with exaggerated, faintly disturbing facial features, and a woman with a large compendium on her lap. Both were looking at her, apparently having anticipated her arrival.

"Welcome back to the Velvet Room," said Igor. "Please do close the door behind you."

Ruby stared, and then grinned, turning quickly to do as he said. "I _knew_ it wasn't just a dream!"

"Well," said Margaret, "it _was_ a dream. Although not exactly in the traditional sense. The Velvet Room exists between dream and reality; mind and matter."

"That doesn't explain how I got in here from Larch Street," Ruby said, sliding onto the seat that she had been sitting on the last time she had been in the room. "I've never seen that door there before."

"Most people do not," Igor said. "You, holding the key to this place, are the rare exception."

Ruby swung her feet, bouncing them up and down. "Well, that's great, I guess. Um-"

"You look as if you have questions," Margaret said.

"A couple," admitted Ruby. "If you don't mind answering them."

"But of course." Igor's smile was as creepy as ever, but underneath it, he seemed surprisingly genuine. "The Velvet Room is here to provide as much assistance and guidance to its guests as it can."

"Okay, cool." Ruby leaned back in her chair. "First- that shadow world in the television screen. What even _was_ that place?" There was a brief silence, and then she expanded on this. "I got the whole thing with the shadow selves, and the Personas - that's some sort of allusion to Jungian psychology, but honestly? He didn't cover weird television worlds and castles in his work, and personally, I got nothing."

"That... is not up to us to say," admitted Igor after a moment. "Although I rather think you might be the first guest here to make that connection. I offer you my congratulations for doing so."

"Well, you wouldn't happen to have any clues as to who actually killed my friend's aunt?" Ruby asked. "You know, useful stuff."

"That is outside our realm of knowledge," said Margaret.

Ruby stared into the fire for a moment. "...providing 'assistance and guidance', huh."

"We are here to present you with information and guidance for you to ponder on your own time," said Igor, clasping his hands in front of him. "I am doing my best to fit my role as your guide through your journey, and as such, I must apologize for the vagueness and evasiveness of some of my statements. But their meanings shall become clear to you in time."

Ruby rolled her eyes. This action was not missed by the occupants of the Velvet Room. "As you progress in your trials, more shall be revealed to you," said Igor. "Keep those whom you hold close, close to your heart. Bonds are not so easily broken even once one half is no longer present."

"Friendship is magic, huh." Ruby rubbed absently at her nose. "I can deal with that. Okay, what about that whole Persona thing? You've gotta have some stuff on that - you guys gave the thing to me originally, right?"  
Margaret placed the large blue volume that she always seemed to be holding on the table in front of her, and flipped it open. "That is correct. As mentioned before, your Persona ability is that of the wild card."

Ruby leaned forward to look. Inside the compendium, the card that she had taken upon first entering the Velvet Room was clearly visible - _THE FOOL_ **.** However, instead of being blurry and indistinct, the figure in the image was now colorful and distinct: a girl, walking along a cliff's edge, with a large white dog at her heels. Although the girl was slightly too far away for her facial features to be recognizable, Ruby could still tell that it was meant to represent her.

The rest of the cards in the book were still as blurry as before, with the exception of one. Upon seeing Ruby's questioning look, Margaret swivelled the book around to face her properly, and Ruby examined the card labelled _JUSTICE_ **.** She recognized the boy on this card easily - Clancy, standing in front of a tree with his eyes closed. In each of his hands, he was holding an intricately folded paper figurine: a sword, and a set of scales.

"With the Wild Card ability, you can turn your bonds with people - your 'social links' - into new Personas," explained Igor. "You have recently acquired the power of the Justice Arcana. I look forward to seeing what other bonds you might establish so that you may acquire even more power."

"More friendship stuff," Ruby mused. "I'd like to think I'm good at making friends, so- this should be fun." She glanced regretfully at the piles of books around her that she was aching to read, and then back at the door back to the outside world. "Speaking of friends - I've got a bunch outside right now, and I really don't want to keep them waiting."

"Understandable," said Igor.

"Have fun," said Margaret, and raised a hand in farewell. " And, until next time- goodbye."

Ruby mirrored the gesture with a broad smile, and then opened the door, stepping back onto Larch Street. The music that she could hear inside the room quickly faded, even before she closed the door. She stood there for a few more seconds, one hand on the blue door that was no longer glowing.

"Cool," she said softly, and then raised her hand from the surface of the door, turning back in the direction of where her friends had continued on without her. If she squinted, she could see where they were, in front of the Cherry Cup.

With her jacket puffing up in the wind as she went, she took off down the street at a light sprint, calling after them. After a moment, they could be heard calling back to her, and soon she was an equally small speck at the end of Larch Street.

The door to the Velvet Room remained for a moment longer, and then it faded into the wall, becoming nothingness once more.

 **The End**

* * *

 ** _Oh my god I did it; it's over._**

um. anyway

If this were to played out like a full Persona game, Ruby would continue to go rescuing people from the television world as they appeared on the Midnight Channel, helping them to face their fears and gathering a sizable party of friends in the process. In my head, most of her friends at school would become involved (that's Del, Mouse, Red, Elliot, also probably Vapona since this is all set post-Blink And You Die, I didn't ever clarify that in the story did I oh well whoops). They would end up investigating the murders and stuff (the second actual victim that they don't manage to save would be a minor Spectrum Agent) and eventually they'd figure out that the Count's behind it all. I never really worked out most of those details, since this was only ever meant to be a fairly short fic (although it did get a bit out of hand) covering the initial part of the 'game'. I also felt a bit weird about trying to write the other's Shadow confrontations, since their personal problems are only sort of hinted at in-series. Hey, if somebody else wants to do it, you have my full permission! Go do it!

Libra, Clancy's Persona, has some sort of weird gravity-altering powers, by the way- she can shift the centre of gravity of anything non-Shadow , which includes humans and other objects. Not sure how this would work in combat.

Going back to the game thing, all of the Personas in this scenario would be based around the 88 modern constellations. I got Libra for Clancy because of his connection to the Justice arcana, and Musca (the fly constellation) I gave to Ruby because… well. Flies, huh? What else is more fitting?

I fudged the rules of the Velvet Room/obtaining the first contract because I'm really lazy and didn't feel like weaving all of the stuff about gaining the contract into here. Sorry about that, in retrospect it was a really bad idea.

What else, what else… I'm still not happy with the appearances of Clancy's Shadow or Ruby's Persona- what they looked like were always really hard to pin down in my head. I was pretty pleased with the Velvet Room being a library, but also it occurred to me while I was writing some filler scenes in this that there's no actual reason for it to be a library in this setting, it should probably be the back of a car like in P4. Please don't hurt me for this.

if you're still reading this, thank you so much. I have literally no idea why I decided to write it in the first place, but it was definitely one of the most fun experiences I've had in a long time. That being said, I'm super glad I'm done with it, because now I get to move onto bigger and better projects!

thank you again! i hope you liked it

-Kitty


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